


As You Like It

by All_Blue



Category: One Piece
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humor, I'll add more tags as the story goes on, I'm Bad At Tagging, LawLu - Freeform, M/M, One Piece College AU, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Spoilers, ZoSan - Freeform, but they're my idiots, so if you're not caught up don't say I didn't warn you, sorry i can't write a story without adding angst, there will probably be angst eventually, they're all a bunch of idiots, yeah i'm gunna torture y'all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-03-13 21:36:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_Blue/pseuds/All_Blue
Summary: Each of the Straw Hats start their journey at university, though none of them expected it to be so difficult and confusing. Wrapped up in trying to get passing grades, drama in their personal lives, and budding romance, they try to naviagate their way through their new lives at college.





	1. Arrival

“Whoa!” Luffy gasped in astonishment as he slid to a halt at the entrance of the university, beaming excitedly and eyes wide as he looked around, “It’s huge!”

He laughed giddily; hands sprawled at his sides as students passed him by. Some students had taken a summer break and were returning for their Fall semester, so it was pretty crowded as students flooded in with bags and were meeting back up with their friends who’d had summer classes. One person ran into Luffy, but he ignored them, in too much awe to even acknowledge them. He’d never been more excited in his entire life; this is what he’d been waiting for, for the past two years. He could finally move out of his crazy aunt’s house and move out here with his brother’s. They’ve been here for the past two years, leaving him alone with their crazy family. It was hard dealing with chores around the house without help, and on top of that he had his grandpa trying to convince him to go to the Navy Academy. To say he was disappointed was an understatement, but he still paid for the boys to go to school. Maybe he _really was_ good at heart?

Even still, Luffy was glad to be out of there. Here, he could finally live his life, and boy was he excited to party.

But first...

“Luffy, is that you?!” He heard a familiar voice call from his left, making him turn his head in that direction, and he beamed immediately when he saw who it was.

He brought his hands above his head, smiling brightly as he began to run forward, yelling as he went, “Sabo!”

The blonde prepared himself for the tackle hug, steadying his footing efficiently as his younger brother plowed into him, wrapping his arms tight around his neck as he practically jumped on him, legs wrapping around his waist. The younger boy giggled as he hugged him, chattering excitedly, “I’ve missed you!”

Sabo chuckled and tried to look at Luffy where his face was buried in his shoulder, “I’ve missed you, too. I’m glad you’re finally here.”

“Me too!” Luffy cried, pulling his head back before he quickly jumped off of his brother, still beaming excitedly, “The trip here was so long! I thought I’d never get here!”

“It’s only a two-hour car ride,” Sabo said, though he knew his brother was impatient. He looked around curiously, furrowing his eyebrows before he peered back down at Luffy, “Who drove you? Don’t tell me you did.”

Luffy snickered, putting his hands on his hips as a voice from behind him suddenly called out, sounding irritated, “Luffy! Get your ass back here and help me with these bags!”

Sabo’s face lit up with a cheerful smile then too, voice going high as he practically yelled, “Dadan!”

The redheaded woman lifted her head and caught eyes with the older boy, seeing him running towards her. Her eyes widened in surprise and she then frantically tried to secure the bags under her arms, “W-wait! Give me a second! Let me—”

All the bags fell out of her arms as Sabo crashed into her, giving her a tight hug and laughing happily, “It’s so good to see you! How’ve you been?”

“I’ll be happy once I leave here,” She said under her breath irritably.

Sabo pulled away and patted her on the arm affectionately, “Oh, don’t be like that, Dadan! I know you missed me!”

“Hm, sure…” She muttered, but her irritability only seemed to make Sabo laugh harder.

“I’ve missed that snarky attitude of yours!” Sabo beamed, “How about we all come home for the holidays this year? Even Grandpa Garp! How’s that sound?”

“I don’t think so!” She said, shoving all the bags into Sabo’s arms now, “I’m finally free of all three of you brats! I’m not responsible anymore! So, see ya!”

Sabo pouted at that, holding all of Luffy’s bags pretty easily in his arms, “What? Leaving already?”

“Yep! It was nice knowing ya!” She said, spinning around on her heel and beginning to walk back towards the car.

Sabo fake pouted for only a moment, turning to look over his shoulder and flash Luffy a knowing smile before he turned back to see Dadan standing completely still just a few feet away. He could see her fists clenched and her shoulders shaking as she tried to hold back her emotions, though it seemed she wasn’t succeeding so well. It wasn’t just a moment later that she had turned back around, sniffling and rubbing at her eyes, “You two really annoy me, you know that?!”

Luffy and Sabo both held out their arms, the bags falling out of the taller boy’s arms as they both jumped into the redheaded woman’s arms, “Dadan!”

She sniffled and tried to hold back sobs as she hugged both of them tightly in her arms, “Both of you be careful and look out for each other! You hear me?!”

“Don’t worry, Dadan,” Sabo reassured her, patting her back reassuringly, “We’ll be fine.”

“You better be!” She cried, pushing away from the boys and wiping her wet eyes in annoyance, glaring at them both, “And tell Ace what I told you! Got it?!”

“Yes ma’am!” Both boy’s gave her a mock salute, smiling goofy grins.

The urge to cry overtook her urge to roll her eyes, but she didn’t want to look weak any longer, so she turned on her heel and away from them, lifting a hand over her shoulder to wave at them both, “Okay then, I’ll see you boy’s at Christmas.”

“I can hardly wait!” Sabo beamed.

“Yeah! I can’t wait for the Christmas ham!” Luffy cried, throwing his arms up in the air excitedly.

“And who’s cooking this Christmas ham?!” Dadan glared over her shoulder at the dark-haired boy.

“You are! You do it every year!” Luffy exclaimed.

Dadan scoffed and rolled her eyes, “The things I do for you brats…”

Luffy laughed as Sabo lifted a hand to wave, calling, “Goodbye Dadan! See you soon!”

She waved back to them, trying to get out of there as quickly as she could so they could no longer see her tears. The boy’s watched her go, and once she’d disappeared from their sight Sabo turned back to the pile of bags on the ground, “We should probably get you to your dorm so you can get situated. Can you help me out a little bit here?”

Sabo picked up some of the bags, so Luffy followed suit, “Yeah, sure!”

Luffy didn’t bring a lot, but just enough to need two sets of hands. After they had a comfortable way of carrying all of his things, they started further into the university, and it didn’t take but just a moment for Luffy to start bombarding Sabo with questions. He asked him everything he could think of about college life, and Sabo tried his best to tell his brother what he knew. They talked and laughed the whole way to their destination, happy to be back together again.  
0-0-0-0-0  
“Whoa! So, this is what a dorm looks like!” Luffy said in awe as he stood next to his brother.

“No, this is what the outside of a dorm looks like,” Sabo said, using the key Luffy had gotten at the front office to unlock the door, “This is what a dorm looks like.”

The door swung open, revealing the inside of Luffy’s dorm. It was average sized, cozy enough, but Luffy thought it was everything and more. He stepped inside and smiled wider, if that was even possible, “Wow! This is so cool!”

Sabo smiled and dropped Luffy’s bags down onto the floor out of everyone’s way, “I’m happy you’re so excited about this.”

Luffy snickered and nodded, looking around the dorm once more before his excitement spiked once more and he spun around to face Sabo again, “I have a roommate, right?!”

Sabo had to laugh at his brother’s enthusiasm, and he nodded, “There's two beds, isn’t there?”

Luffy turned his head and looked around, now noticing that he was paying attention to detail, “Yosh! When do you think he’ll be here?! Do you think he’s already here?!”

“Well, there’s a TV here, so I’d say yes,” Sabo said, looking down at Luffy’s bags next to him, “Hey, why we’re waiting for him to show up, why don’t we put up some of your stuff?”

Luffy looked down at the bags on the floor where his brother was looking, then he nodded in agreement, “Okay!”

He didn’t really want to put things away, he was going to do that later, but it would kill time, so he did as his brother suggested. They put his clothes away, along with some of the food he’d bought earlier, or rather Dadan had bought for him. It was mostly instant food and candy, which Sabo criticized, telling him he needed to eat healthier, although he didn’t really have room to talk. But at least he cooked his own food… Luffy also had a video game console that he’d gotten for Christmas last year, so his roommate would probably love him for life for that.

Sabo, of course, hooked it up for him since Luffy got distracted setting up several framed photos on his bedside table. Sabo pulled himself away from the small TV unit and made sure everything was hooked up properly before he leaned back on his hands and peered up at his brother who was adjusting the last photo next to his bed. The blonde tilted his head to try and see who was in the photo, then asked, “You see him often?”

“Huh?” Luffy said, turning to look at Sabo, so wrapped up in what he was doing, having forgotten Sabo was even here in the first place, “Oh! No, I haven’t seen him in a while. But he’s busy, you know? I’ll see him again someday.”

Sabo smiled at that, tilting his head and gesturing towards the straw hat on Luffy’s head, “You’ve got to. You’ve still got to return his hat to him.”

Luffy subconsciously lifted his hands and grabbed the brim of his hat, smiling happily, “Yep! He says once I’ve traveled the world with all my friends and achieved my dream, that’s when I can give it back!”

Sabo stood then, smoothing out his clothes and stepping over to Luffy, putting a hand on his head and pushing his hat into his face and covering his eyes, “You’ve got a long way to go, then!”

“Hey, stop that!” Luffy cried, swatting at Sabo’s hands as he refused to let up and leave his brother alone.

Sabo laughed as Luffy tried wrestling away, hands swatting and trying to get ahold of Sabo to push him off, but the older boy was fairly skilled in slipping away from his brother’s attacks. He did grow up with him, after all. Luffy started laughing a moment later, though he still couldn’t get Sabo to stop picking on him. This went on for a while, at least until another presence made itself known.

“Ahem,” Somebody cleared their throat from the doorway, making Sabo finally release Luffy and both boys to turn towards the open doorway and see a boy standing there, seeming to struggle with his two rather large bags that were packed to the brim, “Can I get some help here, please?”

“Oh, of course!” Sabo called, both he and Luffy rushing over and taking the load from him.

The two boys pretty easily carried the bags inside, setting them on the other side of the room that was free of décor and a person’s belongings, though several other bags sat on the bed from the boy coming in earlier with luggage. The boy in the doorway slumped his shoulders and released a deep and tired sigh, “Thank you… I don’t know why I packed so much…”

“It’s alright,” Sabo said, brushing that aside.

“You’re my roommate then, huh?” Luffy suddenly bounced over, standing right in front of him and looking him over, as if taking him in and judging him.

“U-uh,” The new boy cowered back nervously, not so sure about this guy with the straw hat, “Y-yeah, I guess so—”

“I’m Monkey D. Luffy, nice to meet you!” Luffy beamed, sticking out a hand for the other to shake.

The boy with the snapback looked down at the offered hand, reluctant to take it, but this guy was his roommate, they had to try and get along, and refusing his handshake was a bad way to start, “I’m Usopp, it’s nice to meet you, too.”

“What are you majoring in? I’m studying geography!” Luffy said, releasing Usopp’s hand and throwing his arms up in the air in excitement as he explained his life plan, “When I graduate, I’m gunna travel all over the world with all of my friends! We’re gunna eat food from all over the world, it’s gunna be great!”

Usopp seemed a bit taken aback by Luffy’s excitable nature, so Sabo leaned over from behind Luffy’s, patting his brother’s shoulder as he reassured his roommate, “Don’t worry, he’ll calm down. He had coffee in the car.”

Usopp nodded in understanding, turning back to Luffy, seeing him staring at him, as if waiting for something. _Oh! My major!_ Usopp cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders, trying to appear more confident than he is, jabbing a thumb against his chest as he proudly explained, “I’m an art major! One day, I’m going to have an entire gallery, no! An entire museum dedicated to me and my art! It’ll be in a major city, the biggest city in the world, and everyone will know my name! I’ll be like Van Gogh, or Claude Monet!”

Luffy frowned and quirked an eyebrow, tilting his head in confusion, “Who?”

“You don’t know who either of those two are?” Usopp asked, seeming surprised, then he sighed dramatically and smiled proudly, placing a hand on Luffy’s shoulder, “Come on, sit down. I shall educate you.”

The two turned towards the room, Usopp directing Luffy past Sabo as he began to explain the history of both Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet to Luffy, and Sabo knew the boy would either forget all of this later or not pay attention throughout the entire story. Sabo smiled, deciding he’d helped Luffy and he should probably go and leave the boy to bond with his new roommate. Usopp seemed pretty chatty, so he figured they’d get along great. He tried saying goodbye, but neither of them were paying attention, so he finally just turned and left the room, leaving the two alone to chat.

Usopp talked for a while, and Luffy listened intently for the first few minutes, then he sort of tuned everything out and just looked at Usopp in confusion. He really didn’t know what he was talking about, he just caught the names of the artists and that was really all. Usopp seemed pretty excited though, so Luffy let him talk, which he did for a while. He finally finished after what he was talking about, which felt like it took at least half-an-hour, he smiled confidently and crossed his arms over his chest, “So, what do ya think? Pretty sweet, huh?”

“Hm…” Luffy hummed, tilting his head and crossing his arms, thinking it over deeply, then he said, “Why’d that Van Man cut off his ear?”

“His name’s Van Gogh, and I already told you the story,” Usopp frowned then, slumping his shoulders as his arms fell back to his sides, “Were you even listening?”

“Mm… No, not really,” Luffy said, shaking his head, and Usopp was about to say something in irritation, but Luffy suddenly beamed and babbled excitedly, “But you’re gunna be the best artist in the world! So, who cares about those two?”

“Well, I do… They’re kind of my inspiration,” Usopp said, but he was sort of liking Luffy’s enthusiasm, so he smiled a bit, “But yeah, I’m gunna be the best artist that ever lived! Everybody’s going to know my name!”

Luffy snickered, “Yosh! I’m looking forward to it!”

Usopp had to smile at that, snickering lightly at the other boy’s confidence in his future, “Thanks!”

He wasn’t really looking forward to having a roommate, afraid he’d just get picked on by them like he was always picked on in high school, but it seems Luffy was rather supportive and cheerful, so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. _Yeah. This would be great._

“Hey! I’m gunna go on a walk and look around, you wanna come?” Luffy asked, still smiling bright.

Usopp was still smiling too, but he held up a hand to decline, “No, I’ve gotta put my stuff away and get everything put in the right places. Maybe later?”

“Okay, I’m still gunna go, though,” Luffy said, jutting a thumb over his shoulder to point at the open door, “I’ll see ya later!”

“Yeah, okay,” Usopp said, waving to Luffy before he turned and grabbed one of his bags, throwing it onto his bare bed as Luffy left the room.

Luffy went down the hall, remembering the way Sabo had guided him, and surprisingly he made his way to the exit without getting turned around or lost. He pushed open the door, stepping back outside and smiled as he took in the fresh afternoon air. It was a nice day, a perfect day for a walk. And there was a lot to explore here, it’d be great if he could find where he would have to go Monday for his classes. He had a map in his back pocket, but he’d take it out later, right now he was just going to walk and see where he ended up.

It was a rather large campus, which surprised him. He knew it was big from what’d he’d heard, but actually being here and seeing it was completely different. He was blown away by how amazing it was, and he just knew he’d have a good time here. He’s never been more excited! He wanted to meet more people and make friends! He wanted to throw a party! Maybe if he did that a bunch of people would come and he could make friends there? Hmm…

He remembers his grandpa telling him not to throw any ‘big and stupid parties,’ but he really wanted to. His grandpa said his education was the important thing, that was the reason he was here, but Luffy thought that was dumb and was going to ignore him. Obviously, he’d go to his classes and try his hardest, but he was going to have some fun while he was here, too. He was going to spend these next few years having the time of his life! The more he thought about his future here, the more excited he became.

He knew Ace would come to a party if he threw one, but would Sabo? He’s sure he would, but Sabo was rather serious about his studies, so he’d have to throw a party when Sabo didn’t have any big tests or anything like that coming up. Luffy rubbed his chin as he thought, wondering if it’d be okay to throw a party next weekend? There shouldn’t be anything big going on then, right? Sabo should be free. He wondered if he’d get in trouble with the school if he threw a party? He never thought about that. Not that he cared or anything, he was used to being in trouble. Maybe a party next weekend was a good idea? He could just hand out invitations and he’s sure a lot of people would show up. It could be like a ‘Welcome to University’ party! Yeah, that sounds cool, he likes that. So, next weekend then? This weekend was too hectic, everybody was just getting in and settled, trying to get used to being away from home, besides, Luffy was tired from the car ride and the stress of preparing for life away from home, he could use a couple good days of rest.

Yeah, next weekend sounded nice.

“Oof!” He grunted as he ran straight into somebody’s back, making him stumble back clumsily and nearly fall down, but he kept his footing and peered up at whoever he’d run into.

It was a rather muscular guy. He was wearing a tank top and sweatpants, a black backpack slung over one shoulder and a rather irritated scowl displayed across his face, “Hm? Are you alright?”

Luffy blinked in surprise, not expecting to run right into somebody, but it’s what he gets for not paying attention. He smiled and pointed a finger at the larger man’s head, something catching his attention, “Whoa, your hair’s green!”

“Huh?” The man grunted in confusion, looking up and bringing up a hand to run through his messy green hair, “Oh, yeah… I dyed it, so what?”

“It’s cool!” Luffy said, giggling happily, “What’s your name? I’m Luffy!”

The muscular man blinked, taken aback by the dark-haired boy’s forwardness, “Uh…”

“Why are you just standing here?” Luffy asked, tilting his head curiously, “Are you lost?”

He could’ve sworn he saw the green-haired man’s face turn red at the mention of him being lost, but he quickly turned his head away to hide it, arms crossing over his chest defensively, “No, I’m not lost! I’m just… a little turned around… I just got here, so it’s only natural, you know?”

“Sure!” Luffy said, stepping towards the man as he pulled the map out of his back pocket, “My brother had to help me get to my dorm earlier, but I’m sure if we look at this map we can find where you’re supposed to go.”

“Hm, okay,” He said, leaning forward as Luffy came to stand beside him so he could see the map.

“Hmm…” Luffy hummed, peering down at the map and trying to figure out exactly where they were right now, “So, I was here just a minute ago, and now I’m…” Near the science building? Maybe? “Um…”

The green-haired man looked at him, quirking a curious eyebrow, but soon enough he narrowed his eyes and had to ask, “You’re lost, aren’t you?”

“Uh…” Was all Luffy had to say, and the muscular man groaned in frustration.

“Great, now what are we going to do?” He threw his hands up in frustration, stepping away from Luffy.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out,” Luffy said, continuing to look the map over, trying to figure out where they were, “Let’s go… that way!”

He pointed to the right of him, not looking up from the map as he said it, and the green-haired man looked in that direction, furrowing his eyebrows trying to figure out what the guy was talking about, “That way? What’s that way?”

Luffy shrugged, “I don’t know, but I’m sure if we walk around for a while, we’ll find something.”

“Your plan is to just wander around aimlessly until we find ‘something?’” He asked incredulously, “That’s a ridiculous plan.”

“Weren’t you ‘just wandering around aimlessly’ until I got here?” Luffy asked, maybe a little too deadpan before he laughed hysterically at the look on the green-haired man’s face.

He narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth, snapping, “Shut up and get walking!”

Luffy snickered and did as he was told, turning and starting in the direction he had pointed. The green-haired man grumbled irritably as he followed behind Luffy a few steps, one hand gripping the handle of his backpack, sneakers dragging against the pavement. Luffy was practically skipping ahead of him, and his over the top cheerfulness made him uneasy. _How can someone be so happy? It doesn't make any sense. He’s lost, but he acts like this is no big deal._ He, for one, was hungry and didn’t feel like following around the guy in a straw hat for super long, so he hopes they found their way soon.

“Hm…” Luffy hummed as he stopped, looking around the new area they’d entered, “Do any of these buildings look familiar to you?”

The taller man narrowed his eyes further and snapped, “I just got here! How would any of these buildings look familiar?!”

“Hm…” Luffy hummed again, looking down at his map, then he asked, “What’s your building called?”

The green-haired man’s face turned red again, realizing he actually hadn’t told Luffy the name of the building his dorm was in, which probably wasn’t helping with locating the building at all. Wait, actually… He reached into his pocket, pulling out the folded-up piece of paper he’d stuffed in there an hour ago when he got here, remembering what was written across the front of it, then he held it out to Luffy. The shorter boy took it, peering down at it, then he looked back to the map, then he beamed, “Okay! If we can just find the science building, then we can find your room pretty easy! Let’s keep going!”

He nodded in agreement, turning his head away to hide his flushed face which he’s sure Luffy saw, but the boy with the straw hat just ignored it and resumed walking, so he followed after him. It was quiet for only a moment, Luffy not being able to keep quiet for long, so he asked again, “What’s your name? You never told me.”

 _Well, you never gave me the time,_ “Zoro.”

“Zoro,” Luffy repeated, as if testing the way it sounded, then he smiled and nodded in approval, “That’s a cool name! Kind of intimidating!”

“Eh?” That confused him a bit.

“So, what are you here for?” Luffy asked, not looking up at him as he tried to figure out where exactly they were and where they were going.

“To study?” Zoro replied obliviously, quirking a confused eyebrow.

“No, I mean what are you majoring in?” Luffy asked.

Again, Zoro’s face flushed. He cleared his throat awkwardly and averted his eyes to the ground before he replied, “Oh, um, I’m a health and fitness major.”

“Ooh, cool!” Luffy said, looking up at Zoro again, “So like, are you gunna be a trainer or something? You’re pretty big, so you’ll probably be pretty good at it!”

“Oh, uh...” This guy was flustering him, which he wasn’t appreciating, “That’s what I’m aiming for, yeah.”

“Cool!” Luffy beamed with a snicker, then he looked back in front of him, then down at the map, then in front of him again; he frowned, “Hm…”

Zoro stopped when Luffy stopped, and he knew this couldn’t be good, “What is it?”

“I don’t know where we are,” Luffy said bluntly, having no shame in that statement, “I can’t find the science building.”

“Did you get us more lost?” Zoro asked, not being able to stop his voice was rising.

Luffy snickered nervously and rubbed the back of his head, and Zoro narrowed his eyes once again, “Jeez, we’re never going to find our way there, are we?!”

“You boys seem to be having navigation troubles,” A new voice spoke, making both Zoro and Luffy turn around to look and see who had spoken, “You need some help?”

A redheaded girl stepped over to them, a smile on her face that looked sort of mocking in Zoro’s opinion, but Luffy seemed more than happy to accept her assistance, “Really? You’d help us out?”

“Of course!” The girl said, hands behind her back as she stopped in front of them, a sweet looking smile on her face, “Where do you need to go?”

“Here,” Luffy said, showing her the slip of paper Zoro had given him minutes ago with the name of his building and room number written on it.

“Hm,” The girl hummed, then she looked down at the map, coming up with a quick response, “It’s just around the corner.”

“Huh?” Zoro seemed surprised.

“Really?!” Luffy cried, shock written across his features, “How’d you figure out where we were so fast?!”

“Did you two really not take the time to look around?” She asked, gesturing around her, “This is the culinary arts building, and the science building is back there, so your building is straight ahead and around the corner.”

“What?!” They both yelled, Luffy finishing with, “How’d you know that?!”

“There are signs,” The girl said, pointing to the sign just behind her that read Culinary Arts Department across the front of it, “Don’t tell me you two haven’t been reading them?”

“Uh…” Both of them said, looking at her as if she were a genius.

“Also, there are directory’s all over the place that tell you where you are and where to go,” She said, then she put her hands on her hips and looked at them curiously, “You two are a couple of idiots, aren’t you?”

“Hey!” Zoro yelled, clenching a fist and glaring at her as Luffy pouted.

She just sighed and shook her head, “I can take you to your building if you want, I wouldn’t want you two to get lost again.”

“We don’t need your help! We can get there on our own! We’re grown adults, you know?!” Zoro practically shouted, taking a threatening step towards the girl, but she didn’t even flinch.

“Alright, suit yourselves,” She said, beginning to turn around and walk away, “If you get lost again, it’s your own fault.”

Zoro glared at her as she walked away, seething with annoyance and anger, but Luffy didn’t seem so prideful as to deny assistance, “Can you help us? I don’t want to get lost again, especially now since I’m starting to get hungry.”

“Okay then,” The girl turned back around and came back towards them, and Zoro shot Luffy a glare as the girl held out a hand for Luffy to shake, “I’m Nami, nice to meet you both.”

“I’m Luffy, and that’s Zoro,” Luffy greeted cheerfully, folding the map under his arm so he could shake Nami’s hand, then his eyes widened in awe, “Whoa! You’ve got tattoos!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah!” Nami said, smiling proudly as she looked down at her arms, “I’ve got to get this one finished, but they’re pretty cool, huh?”

Her right arm was a full sleeve, her shoulder sprouting a tree that ran down her entire arm, bright orange dotting her lower bicep and forearm, displaying tangerines. Her other arm was a half sleeve at the moment, her shoulder adorning a dark blue pinwheel and lower down were the beginnings of blue sky and white fluffy clouds. She seemed rather proud of both of them, “This guy downtown does them. He’s pretty good, huh?”

“Hey! Ace does tattoos in this city!” Luffy informed her, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“You know him?” She asked in curiosity.

“Yeah, he’s my brother!” He said with a beaming smile.

“Oh!” Nami smiled again then, realization dawning on her, “You’re _that_ Luffy! I thought your name sounded familiar!”

“So, Ace did all your tattoos? He did awesome!” Luffy beamed, admiring the art covering her arms, “Oh! Do you think he’ll give me one?!”

“Maybe,” Nami said, unsure. She knew from Ace’s stories that Luffy was hyperactive and a bit over the top, but she also heard he was an all around good natured and loveable guy. 

“Can we go now? I’m getting hungry over here,” Zoro asked, arms crossed impatiently over his broad chest.

Luffy and Nami both looked over to him, then Nami crossed her arms and spoke with sarcasm dripping from her voice, “I thought you didn’t need my help, Mr. I’m An Adult And Can Do It Myself.”

Zoro glared at her, fists clenching at his sides, “I’d find my way there! I just…”

Nami smiled and shook her head, waving a hand around before she went on, “Whatever. Follow me, I’ll get you where you need to go.”

Luffy was quick in following after the redhead, but Zoro hesitated. He found her annoying. She was smug and grated on his nerves, but on the other hand he was hungry and didn’t feel like wandering the campus all night, so he decided to follow her as well, though he groaned in irritation before he jogged to catch up with the straw hat and the incomplete tattoo sleeves. 

As they went, Luffy asked Nami a lot of questions. What she was doing here, what she wanted to do when she graduated, how his brother was doing, if it hurt to get those tattoos. The answers were, and in order; She was studying geography, she wanted to make maps and travel the world, Luffy’s brother was doing fine, and no, it didn’t hurt to get the tattoos, at least not the whole time. Luffy seemed rather intrigued by her, but he was also very intrigued by Zoro, too. He just seemed to be an easily excited and entertained person though, so Zoro was taking everything he hyped up with a grain of salt.

“This is the place,” Nami said, looking down at the slip of paper in her hand with Zoro’s building name and room number written across it before she opened up the door and stepped inside, turning to look over her shoulder when she heard something slam roughly into the glass; Zoro’s face was squished against the door she’d closed in his face. She smiled and held back a snicker before she reached back and opened the door for him and Luffy, “Are you coming or what?”

“Why’d you slam the door in my face?!” Zoro yelled, rubbing his forehead that had turned red from slamming into the door.

“I didn’t, you just ran into it,” She said with a light shrug of her shoulders, “Now stop complaining and come on, I don’t have all night, you know?”

Zoro growled irritably, fists clenching at his sides again as he resisted the urge to attack the girl, but he kept his urge quelled when he realized attacking another student would probably get him in trouble with the school, which wasn’t something he needed on his first day. So, he kept his anger quelled as best as he could and followed after Nami and Luffy, hoping they’d find his room soon and praying that his roommate was at least tolerable.

The walk down the hallway felt like it lasted forever in his opinion, but they got to his room eventually, and he thanked God he could finally be free of the annoying redhead. He had his arms crossed when they reached the open doorway, which signaled to him to his roommate was already here. He didn’t even step foot into his own room before Luffy pushed himself through the doorway and announced himself loudly, “Hello!”

The man at in the very small kitchen flinched at the sudden voice, then he turned his head to see who had come in, seeing the shorter boy with a straw hat and a red t-shirt standing the middle of the room, “Oh, hello. Are you my roommate?”

“No, that’d be me,” Zoro said as he stepped into the room past Nami, lifting a hand in a wave, an annoyed expression written across his face, “Hi, I’m Zoro, nice to meet you.”

The blonde looked down at the hand offered to him, and he quickly smiled and shook his hand as he introduced himself as well, “Nice to meet you, too. I’m Sanji.”

“What’s this?” Luffy asked from behind the two now, pointing to something that was lying on the counter, a lot of curiosity in his dark eyes.

Sanji stepped towards him, looking down to see what he was pointing at, then he smiled before he told him, “That’s a cheese knife.”

“Cheese knife?” Luffy asked, quirking a curious eyebrow, “There’s knives for that?”

Sanji nodded, “Yeah, there’s knives that are specialized for a lot of stuff.”

“Ooh… Really?” Luffy asked, but before Sanji could answer, he pointed at something else, “What’s that?”

“That’s a chinois,” He said.

“A chi-what?” Luffy looked confused again, so Sanji explained it to him.

“It’s kind of like a strainer for soups and sauces,” Sanji said, then he added, “It can also be used to dust foods with powders, like sugar or cinnamon.”

“Whoa! And what’s that?” He pointed to something else.

“That’s—”

“So, I’m guessing you’re a cook then?” A feminine voice suddenly spoke from the doorway.

“Oh, yeah. I—” Sanji’s voice got stuck his throat then when he saw the girl standing before him, and it wasn’t just a moment later that his face was burning red.

Nami tilted her head curiously, arms crossed over her chest comfortably as she leaned against the wall and looked across the room at him; she quirked a concerned eyebrow, “Are you okay?”

“Uh…” He was so caught off guard by how beautiful she was that he didn’t know what to say, but he knew if he didn’t say anything soon everyone would think he’s weird, so he cleared his throat loudly, which made his face burn hotter, but he ignored it and choked out, “Yeah, I’m a—I’m a cook! Yeah, I uh, I’ve been cooking almost my whole life, so uh… yeah…”

It was quiet just briefly before Luffy started laughing and pointed at him as if he were some sort of animal doing funny tricks, “Why are you so nervous?”

“I-I’m not!” Sanji yelled, clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes at the shorter boy.

“Ahaha! Your face is so red!” Luffy continued to laugh, one arm wrapped around his stomach, the other lifted to point and laugh at Sanji.

“Shut up!” Sanji yelled, glaring daggers.

“So, you’re a cook, huh?” Zoro asked, dropping his backpack onto the empty bed, a sort of mischievous smile on his face, “How about you cook us something up?”

Sanji turned to look at Zoro then, glare dropping, though he shook his head, “Sorry, instant ramen tonight.”

“Aw, come on! What kind of cook doesn’t cook his roommate dinner?” Zoro asked, sort of pouting.

“One who hasn’t gone on a grocery run yet,” Sanji answered, turning back to the counter to continue putting his stuff away.

“You’re telling me you don’t have grocery’s to cook, but you have all of these weird cooking utensils just on hand?” Zoro asked, approaching the kitchen, which was not at all big enough to hold three people.

“These were graduation presents,” Sanji said, putting them in a drawer.

“They’re pretty fancy,” Luffy said, watching as Sanji put them away gently, holding them as if they were his prized possession.

“They look expensive,” Zoro said, crossing his arms as he watched with a judgmental eye, “Who the hell got you those?”

“The old man I work for,” Sanji answered, a bit of a smile lighting up his face at the mention of the old geezer.

“You have a job?” Luffy asked, for some reason surprised by that.

Sanji nodded, “Yeah, I work at a restaurant downtown. It’s called The Baratie. You should swing by sometime.”

Luffy smiled and nodded, “Yosh! I’m there!”

“Are you a cook there?” Nami asked, stepping further into the room with the others.

Sanji swallowed nervously as she stepped closer, but he nodded and answered her question as clearly as he could, “Y-yeah, I am. But I’m a waiter more so these days. We’re a bit short-staffed, so…”

“So, you cook and wait on people?” Zoro asked.

“You’re a busy man,” Nami said, arms crossed as she stopped just before she got to the kitchen, knowing no one else would fit in the tiny space.

“I guess,” Sanji said with a shrug.

“Where’s the instant ramen, then?” Zoro asked, looking around the kitchen for any food he could find.

“I already put it in the cabinet,” Sanji said, pointing over his shoulder to it.

Zoro forcefully pushed his way through Sanji and Luffy to get to the instant food, making Luffy grunt in annoyance and Sanji yell at him to, “Hey, watch it!”

Zoro ignored both of them though, grabbing a cup of instant noodles before he pushed himself to the sink to fill a pot with water, the other two still yelling at him as he did so. Sanji finally pulled himself out of the chaos that was the kitchen and stumbled towards Nami, glaring back at Zoro in the kitchen as the green-haired man bickered with Luffy. He had to sigh, wondering if it’d always be this complicated, “I really hope he’s not always so grumpy.”

“He’s only yelled at me since I met him,” Nami said, arms still crossed as she watched the two boys in the kitchen push each other around. She sighed and shook her head, then she put a smile on her face and turned to Sanji, holding out a hand, “Sorry, I never introduced myself. I’m Nami.”

He looked down at her hand briefly before he smiled and took it in his own, “Sanji. Nice to meet you,” She released his hand and lowered her arm back to her side, and in the process Sanji got a clear view of her arms, “I like your tattoos.”

“Oh, thank you,” She chirped, “I get this one finished in three weeks, so I’m pretty excited to finally have it done.”

“How long have you been getting them?” Sanji asked curiously, trying to make conversation so he wouldn’t feel so awkward.

“About a year,” She replied with a nonchalant shrug, “The guy that does them is a pretty popular tattoo artist in this city, so he’s always booked up, so I can only go back and get some added on every two months or so… I’ve probably got about two sessions left.”

“Do they hurt?” He asked, genuinely curious.

She shrugged, “Sometimes. It depends on where you get them. It hurt when he was doing the underside of my arm here, but it looks badass now, so it’s fine.”

Sanji smiled at that and nodded, admiring her tattoos, “They do look badass.”

“Thanks,” She chirped with a smile.

“Hey Sanji! Can I have one of these Cup Noodles?” Luffy suddenly called from the kitchen, looking hopefully towards the blonde.

He sighed and shrugged, waving a hand around carelessly, “Yeah, whatever. I don’t care, help yourself.”

“Sweet! Thank you!” He called, grabbing an instant noodle cup from the cabinet as well.

Sanji sighed tiredly, “Have you known them long?”

Nami shook her head, “Nope. Just met them about fifteen minutes ago, actually.”

“Huh?” He asked, confused.

Nami giggled and nodded in affirmation, “They were lost. I assume Luffy was trying to help Zoro find his way here, but then they got more lost. I thought they looked rather helpless, so I decided I should probably save them… Quite the coincidence, too. Luffy’s my tattoo artist’s little brother.”

“Really?” Sanji asked, a bit surprised by that as he looked back to the two in the kitchen, seeing Zoro adding the boiled water to his Cup Noodle now, “Small world.”

The redhead nodded in agreement, and before they could continue their conversation, Zoro suddenly yelped from the kitchen, “Dammit!”

“What’s wrong?” Sanji asked, taking a step forward.

“Ahaha! He burned himself!” Luffy laughed as he waited for Zoro to finish with the pot of boiled water.

“Are you an idiot or something?” Sanji grumbled, slumping his shoulders as he gave Zoro a look.

Zoro glared angrily at the blonde, “Who are you calling an idiot, Swirly Brow?!”

“Wha—”

“Ahaha! How could I have not noticed!” Luffy yelled, pointing to the cook’s rather odd eyebrows, “Your eyebrows are swirly!”

One of them was covered by his hair, but the other one was completely visible, so he reached a hand up to cover it as he glared at the two, face having turned a bit red, “Shut up! At least I don’t act like a child and look like grass!”

“A child?” Luffy questioned, titling his head curiously.

“Grass?!” Zoro yelled, setting down his dinner and marching towards the blonde with his hair pulled back in a short ponytail, “You wanna think about what you just said, Shitty Cook?!”

“Who are you calling shitty, you dumbass?!” Sanji yelled right back, and they continued to go at it.

Luffy simply laughed from his position in the kitchen, boiling some water for his Cup Noodle now, and Nami just stood there and shook her head humorlessly. So, these were the guys she’s gotten herself tangled up with? She had to smile; this could be interesting. A hyperactive and oblivious geography student, a directionally challenged athlete, and a warmhearted but rather hot-headed cook. She’d have to be the mediator obviously, which was a nice bit of change since she was always considered the troublemaker when she was younger. She smiled a little bigger. She kind of liked these guys.

“Hey Sanji-kun?” Nami spoke, which immediately made both bickering boys stop what they were doing to look over at her.

Sanji blinked in surprise of the honorific she had used, but recovered quickly and cleared his throat before he spoke, “Y-yes, Nami-san?”

“Do you mind if I eat here? My dorm’s on the other side of the campus, and I’m a bit hungry,” She said, adding a pout for good measure, even though she was sure he would have said yes without it.

“Of course!” Sanji said, smiling suddenly and putting a hand in Zoro’s face to push him away from him, making the green-haired man grunt in annoyance, “I’ll make it. Please, take a seat.”

Nami smiled, “Thank you, Sanji-kun.”

“The pleasure is mine,” He said, bowing rather dramatically, which annoyed Zoro for some reason.

“Shitty Love Cook…” He grumbled, and Sanji sent a glare his way.

“You want to fight, Mosshead?” He challenged, sizing him up again, though the green-haired man was rather muscular compared to his slim form.

“Really? You? I could throw you across campus with no trouble,” Zoro said, perhaps a bit too confidently.

“I’m stronger than I look, you dumbass!” Sanji threatened, fists clenched by his sides, and the two just continued to argue.

Luffy made his way past them, his ramen finished cooking, and he sat down on Sanji’s bed next to Nami, watching the two continue to argue. Luffy blew on his hot food as he asked, “How long do you think they’ll argue like this?”

Nami shrugged and shook her head, as if disappointed in them both, “Who knows… They’re both a couple of hot-heads.”

Luffy nodded in agreement before he shoveled ramen into his mouth, swallowing it down quickly, “Still. I’m excited to get to know them. We can all be friends!”

Nami looked to the beaming Luffy, and his smile was contagious, because suddenly she was beaming too, “Yeah, I’d like that! I mean, we have some of the same classes, so it’s only natural we get to a know each other a little better.”

Luffy nodded in agreement, “And then one day, we can all travel the world together! You can make your maps, and we can all hang out with our friends and see the world!”

That did sound rather exciting. Nami nodded, “Sounds like a plan to me!”

Luffy giggled happily, then he went back to eating his food and watching the two argue in the middle of the room. Nami watched the boy with the straw hat for a moment more, then she turned her gaze back to the two before her, and she smiled happily. She wasn’t expecting college to be so fun, but she was already having the time of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luffy and his new friends go out to lunch to try and get to know each other a little better, what could go wrong at a restaurant called The Baratie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry it took so long to update, I've had some horrible writer's block. It'll probably be a while before I upload another chapter again because I'm going on vacation for a week and won't be writing a lot if at all. I do hope you like this chapter though, I worked really hard on it and am proud of the way it turned out! Enjoy!

Chapter 2

The journey to her dorm was not at all as complicated as the journey to Zoro’s, though she _wasn’t_ directionally challenged. She found her dorm fairly easily, thankfully, because she was tired. After she’d eaten at Sanji and Zoro’s she found herself rather sleepy, so she prayed her roommate wasn’t bothersome. She’d gotten her stuff to her room earlier, but her roommate hadn’t shown up yet, so she figured she’d go out and look around. She didn’t expect to meet a bunch of idiots along the way, but a faint smile remained thinking about them. They were a bit rowdy, but she thinks she can get used to that. 

The door to her dorm was open, signaling to her that her roommate was here now, so she put on a happy smile before she entered, wanting to make a good first impression. She spotted her roommate sitting at her desk, a book open in front of her, dark-rimmed glasses hanging off of her face. Nami cleared her throat as she entered the room, hands folded behind her back as she slowly stepped inside, “Hi there, you must be my roommate! I’m Nami, it’s nice to meet you!”

The dark-haired woman turned at the voice, bright blue eyes landing on the redhead, and she smiled when she introduced herself. She closed her book and turned in her seat to face the girl completely, smiling a little bigger, “It’s nice to meet you, too. I’m Robin.”

She held out her hand, and Nami took it gladly, the other woman’s grip firm. After a moment, Nami stuffed her hands into her pockets, deciding some light conversation was needed, so she asked, “What’re you reading?”

“Hm? Oh,” Robin looked down at the closed book in front of her, then she smiled back up at Nami, “I was just going through one of my textbooks. I was curious to see what I’d be learning about.”

“Oh yeah?” Nami tried to get a good look at the cover as she asked, “What are you majoring in?”

“History,” Robin answered with a smile, “I’ve always been fascinated by the past, things that have happened, ever since I was a little girl. I guess you could say life just fascinates me.”

 _Life?_  
“You could say the present and the future are history, too,” Robin continued, still smiling politely, “Or at least it will be eventually.”

_Insightful._

Robin took off her reading glasses, folding them up and putting them in a case at the top of her desk, and now Nami realized this woman was a bit older than her, and she was curious as to how much older, but that’d be rude to ask, so she kept her curiosity to herself. Robin was the one who continued to speak, gesturing across the room at Nami’s desk, “I saw your books. So, you’re studying geography?”

“Oh, yeah,” Nami smiled, her cheeks heating up for some reason as she waved a hand about as she explained, “I really want to travel the world someday and make maps. It’s a dream I’ve had since I was a little kid, it’s kind of weird, really…”

“No, I don’t think so,” Robin said with a kind smile, “I don’t think any dream is weird. Everybody has things they want to do, so who am I to tell them it’s weird or not?”

She was very supportive, and Nami could tell she was knowledgeable. She liked her, she’s nice. Nami smiled, shoulders relaxing now that she’d established her roommate wasn’t a total annoyance, saying through a relieved sigh, “Thank God… No offense, but I had a horrible fear I’d get stuck with a loud and annoying roommate.”

It was all she could think about since she applied. She knew she’d need plenty of quiet to study, so it was a relief to find out her roommate was rather bookish.

Robin smiled, “It’s okay. I keep to myself, but if you ever want to talk, I’m available.”

Nami smiled a little bigger, body relaxing a tad more, “Thanks.”

“Mm-hm,” Robin hummed, then she turned back to her book and opened it back up, going back to scanning through it. 

Nami stood there for a moment before a yawn suddenly came out of nowhere and she stretched her arms above her head, grunting sleepily before she turned back to Robin, “Well, I’m probably gunna turn in for the night. We’ll talk some more tomorrow.”

Robin turned to her again, flashing yet another kind smile, “Okay. Goodnight.”

“Night,” Nami said, practically falling into bed, closing her eyes as she laid back on it. Hell, it was comfortable just laying like this, in her day clothes and not even under the cozy blankets. It was hot out anyway; she didn’t need blankets.

It wasn’t long after she closed her eyes that she drifted off into sleep.  
0-0-0-0-0  
“E-excuse me,” He said in a small voice, face pink in embarrassment, not sure how he was supposed to introduce himself, “I-I’m Chopper. I’m your roommate here.”

The man was laying back on one of the bed’s, arms behind his head and one eye cracked open to look over the boy; he looked rather unfriendly, “You’re my roommate?”

“Y-yeah,” The brunette boy said, swallowing nervously before he tried again, “I’m Cho—”

“You look like a little kid,” The dark-haired man practically growled, “Just how old are you?”

“I-I’m sixteen,” The boy said, before adding as an afterthought, “But I’ll be seventeen soon!”

_Yeah, in ten months._

“Sixteen?” His roommate repeated back to him curiously, then he shook his head and closed his eyes again, relaxing back onto his bed, “You are just a little kid. How the hell did you get into university? You a whiz kid or something?”

“W-well, I wouldn’t call myself that, necessarily,” Chopper said, scratching the back of his head anxiously. This guy sure was intimidating, “What’s your name?”

The man cracked an eye open again, peering over the younger boy once before he released a seemingly annoyed sigh, “Law.”

Law. That’s an interesting name. Then again, so is Chopper.

He swallowed nervously, gripping the handles of his backpack nervously, “Are… Are you studying medicine like me? Or—”

“I’m studying biology at the moment,” Law deadpanned, both eyes closed again as he relaxed back onto his bed, “But within the next few years I’ll go off to medical school, yeah.”

Chopper smiled a little at that, happy he was roommate’s with someone with a similar goal to him, “What are you going to study when you get there?”

“I want to be a surgeon,” He said, not specifying what kind.

“Cool!” Chopper chirped, smile becoming a little wider, “I’m going to become a pharmacist!”

“That’s nice,” Law said before he let out a loud yawn, “Now, if you’d try and be quiet. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Oh, sorry,” Chopper said, cheeks burning red when he realized he’d interrupted the man’s sleep, “I’ll try and be as quiet as possible, I’m just going to put away my stuff.”

“Mm-hm,” Law hummed, seeming to be half asleep already.

Chopper swallowed nervously again, but he didn’t say anything more. He just turned around towards his heavy bags that he’d struggled carrying all the way here by himself. He hoped he could unpack without making too much noise, his roommate didn’t seem to be the kindest of all people. 

He hoped they could get along; he didn’t feel like reliving his cruel high school years.  
0-0-0-0-0  
He talked in his sleep and it was all he could do not to throw a pillow at him in the middle of the night. Somehow, he’d made it through to the morning without strangling the blonde, though he didn’t get much sleep. He’d be extra grumpy today, which he’s sure everyone would appreciate. He woke up before Sanji did, so he figured he’d get a little payback for the idiot keeping him up all night. He crawled out of bed, feet hitting the cold floor before he ungracefully padded across the small space between their beds and stood beside Sanji’s, peering down at him through tired eyes. The man had stopped mumbling by now, and seemed to be in a rather peaceful sleep, though it wouldn’t be for long.

Zoro lifted a hand in front of the blonde’s face, narrowed eyes glaring down at him irritably before he roughly flicked the man right in between the eyes, which immediately had him up, “Ow!”

He scrunched up his face and sat up, rubbing the sore spot between his eyes before he cracked open his eyes and looked around, spotting Zoro standing right at his bedside. It took him a moment to become fully aware of what was going on, and when he did, he narrowed his eyes at the larger man and snapped, “What the hell was that for?!”

“You talk in your sleep and it was annoying me,” Zoro said, not even trying to deny what he did.

Sanji’s visible eye widened momentarily, then it was quickly narrowed again as he glared daggers at Zoro, “That’s not my problem.”

Zoro’s eyes narrowed further, “It is your problem when you’re the one keeping me up at night! Is this how it’s going to be every night, cause if so I want a different roommate!”

“You’ve got no complaints from me about that one,” Sanji said, kicking the blankets off his legs before he stood.

“What’d you say, swirly brow?” Zoro clenched his fists at his sides, glaring at the back of the blonde’s head as he retreated to the kitchen.

“Isn’t it a little too early for bickering?” Sanji muttered deadpan as he grabbed a coffee filter and shoved it into the coffee machine.

Zoro glared at the man as he set up his coffee, arms crossed irritably. They just met, they shouldn’t be having these sorts of problems and they definitely shouldn’t be arguing like this all the time, but he’s never dealt with someone so frustrating before, it was hard to bite his tongue when interacting with him. He watched as Sanji mashed some buttons on the coffee machine before he yawned and leaned back against the counter before he rubbed at his visible eye sleepily, then he seemed to sense that he was being watched and turned his gaze to Zoro, “Something you want?”

“Huh?” Zoro grunted, then he realized he’d been staring and couldn’t help the burn that assaulted his cheeks, “You making enough for two?”

Sanji couldn’t help but smirk smugly, “What? Trying to get on my good side now?”

“No, I just need some coffee to get me through the day since you kept me up all night mumbling about God knows what,” Zoro snapped back, and his comment seemed to make Sanji a bit annoyed.

Zoro was expecting the blonde to retort with some useless wisecrack, but instead he just mumbled and grabbed a mug from the cupboard. Zoro frowned at the lack of a response, but didn’t say anything else either, he simply turned and looked towards his unpacked luggage, figuring he should probably get in the shower; anything to get away from the frustrating blonde.

He grabbed some fresh clothes and Sanji continued to make his coffee; the two ignored each other for the rest of the morning.  
0-0-0-0-0  
“Ooh! These are really good!” Luffy said as he flipped through his roommate’s sketchbook; without asking for permission, of course.

It was lucky for him that Usopp didn’t seem to mind, he actually beamed proudly when he turned and saw what Luffy was doing, “O-oh, really? Thanks! Those are just some little doodles I did, but I’m glad you like them!”

“Oh, where’s this?” Luffy asked, pointing to a landscape that Usopp had drawn.

“Oh, that’s the beach near my hometown,” Usopp said, smiling happily at it, “I drew that a long time ago, I’ve improved since then.”

“It’s still really good,” Luffy said, flipping through a few more pages to find another drawing to awe over, “Ooh! I like this one! It’s a dog!”

Usopp looked down at the rough sketch he made of a stray dog that had wandered up to him a couple of months ago; he simply snickered happily at the sketch, remembering how friendly the dog had been. Luffy flipped through the rest of the book, smiling the whole time, but after a few minutes he got through the entire thing and put it back on Usopp's already cluttered desk, “You’re a really good artist! I wish I could draw like that!”

Usopp smiled proudly, “Thank you! I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid, I’ve always loved it!”

“Hey, one day when I travel around the world you should come with me!” Luffy said, waving his arms around to add dramatics, “Then you can draw and paint the wonders of the world!”

Usopp actually seemed intrigued by that idea, excitement shining in his eyes, “Wait, really? Are you serious?”

Luffy nodded, “Mm-hm! It’s my dream to travel the world, you should come with me!”

Usopp smiled wide at that; he knew it’d be years down the road that they’d actually get to travel, but right now it just sounded so exciting he wasn’t sure he could turn such an offer down even if he wanted to, “Yeah! That sounds great! We should definitely do that!”

“Cool!” Luffy threw his hands up in celebration, “This is gunna be great! Me and all my friends traveling the world together! I’m so excited!”

Both Usopp and Luffy snickered happily at their deal, but it only lasted a moment for the former, as he suddenly remembered something and turned to grab his phone and check the time; his widened immediately, “Dammit! Luffy, come on! We’ll be late for lunch!”

Luffy stopped laughing then, seeing Usopp’s phone shoved in his face to show him the time, then Luffy’s eyes widened, “Ah! I forgot! Come on, we gotta go!”

He grabbed Usopp’s arm, pulling roughly and almost making the other boy fall down, but he regained his footing and struggled against Luffy pulling him out of the room, “W-wait! Luffy! My bag!”

He somehow got ahold of his backpack where he kept a couple of sketchbooks, pencils, pens, and not to mention his wallet with all his money inside; he at least wanted to pay for his own lunch. He closed the door behind him all the while yelling at Luffy that he could walk without being dragged by the arm; of course, he didn’t listen.  
0-0-0-0-0  
“Are you sure it’s okay that I come along?” Robin asked as she stood next to Nami, both of them waiting for the others to show up.

“Of course!” Nami smiled, reassuring the taller woman, “From what I gathered about them yesterday, they seemed pretty open to new people, Luffy especially! He definitely won’t mind!”

“Well, as long as you’re sure,” Robin said, smiling kindly at the younger woman, “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“I’m sure, don’t worry,” Nami said, hands folded behind her back as she rocked back and forth on her feet impatiently. She knew they’d be late, she could tell just by their interactions yesterday. Zoro and Sanji would argue which would stall time, but Nami was confident they wouldn’t get lost if they were at least together, but she didn’t have that high of hopes for Luffy. The guy didn’t even think to read signs to get around.

“What are they like?” Robin asked, garnering Nami’s attention back to her.

Nami blinked up at her, taking a moment to process the question, then she smiled as she began explaining, “They’re all very… interesting, to say the least.”

“Tell me about them,” Robin urged with a kind smile.

“Well…” Nami tried to think of where to start. She didn’t know much about them, she’d only met them yesterday, but their personalities did shine pretty brightly, they didn’t hide who they were, “I guess I know the most about Luffy since his brother is my tattoo artist. He talks about him all the time,” She stopped to chuckle, “He’s pretty hyper, almost like a little kid. He talks a lot, his brother told me he’ll eat anything and that he’s always on the move. He seems like a nice guy though; he’s got a contagious laugh. You’ll like him.”

Robin smiled as Nami continued on, “The guy he was with when I met him is a directionless grump ass. I didn’t even see him smile once yesterday,” She crossed her arms and frowned, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance for only a moment before she moved on, “And then his roommate was a pretty nice guy, I don’t know much about him except that he’s a cook and works at some local restaurant.”

“They all seem lovely,” Robin said with a small giggle.

“They’re…” Nami trailed off to think about a good term to call them, settling on, “A bit odd, but overall they seem cool.”

“I’m excited to meet them,” Robin said, that kind smile still gracing her lips.

Nami looked ahead, arms uncrossing and falling comfortably by her sides as a smile made itself present on her lips as well, “Well, you don’t have to wait anymore.”

She lifted her hand to wave as she saw the boys coming into view, a big smile on her face as the loudest of the boys yelled over at her, “Nami!”

“Hey Luffy!” She called back as the group got closer, Luffy’s smile never dropping. Nami noticed there was an extra addition to their party now, so she had to ask when Luffy slowed his pace to stop in front of her, “Who’s your friend?”

Luffy looked over his shoulder briefly to see his long-nosed friend jogging to catch up, seeming to feel uncomfortable being stuck in the middle of Zoro and Sanji’s bickering, “That’s Usopp! He’s my roommate.”

“Oh!” Nami smiled a little wider when Usopp stopped next to Luffy, glancing over his shoulder at the arguing boys as Nami stuck out a hand to greet him, “It’s nice to meet you, Usopp! I’m Nami!”

Usopp turned to look at Nami now, seeing her hand hovering in front of him, and when he finally processed what she had said he smiled kindly and took her hand in his, “Oh! Nice to meet you, too! Luffy told me all about you! You seem quite sane compared to the other two.”

They both chuckled at his joke as their hands returned to their own sides, and Nami’s gaze lifted to look at the other two approaching, “Hey Zoro. Sanji-kun.”

They both stopped their bickering to turn and look at the redhead, Zoro looking rather annoyed from arguing with the blonde, though Sanji’s face immediately lit up with a bright smile as he waved at the girl, “Nami-san!”

Luffy was scratching behind his ear when he noticed the other girl standing next to Nami, “Who are you?”

Everyone’s attention turned to the raven-haired woman’s then, so she took it upon herself to introduce herself just as Nami opened her mouth to do just that, “I’m Robin. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.”

Everyone spoke a greeting, Luffy being the loudest with, “Hi, I’m Luffy!” and Sanji coming close second with a, “It’s lovely to meet you, Robin-chan!”

Nami smiled and clasped her hands at her waist, glancing around at them all, “Well, now that we’ve all introduced ourselves, where are we eating for lunch?”

They’d never decided on any place to eat, and no one spoke immediately to suggest a place. Instead, everyone pondered over it, Luffy rubbing his chin in seemingly deep thought as Sanji reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out delicately before he shoved the pack back in, grabbing a lighter instead. When he lit it up and took a drag, blowing it out, the smoke drifted into Zoro’s face and he winced and tried swatting it away, “Jesus! Do you have to do that here?!”

Sanji gave the larger man a slightly confused look, “What? Would you rather me do it in our room?”

“I—” Zoro was about to retort, only for Sanji to blow a puff of smoke directly into his face, which only pissed the man off more, “You little shit!”

He reached forward and grabbed ahold of the chest of Sanji’s shirt, pulling him forward in a threatening manner, and Sanji’s eyes widened in surprise that the man had used physical force, and before he could say anything to him to make him back off, Nami stepped in between them and pushed them apart, glaring at Zoro first, “Leave Sanji-kun alone!”

Zoro glared right back at her, “What?! He started it!”

“Both of you stop being idiots!” Nami scolded, sending an annoyed look in both their directions, “We’re trying to figure out where to eat since nobody could figure this out beforehand!”

“You could’ve thought about it too, you know?” Zoro grumbled, crossing his arms as he glared at the girl.

“Ooh! I know! I know!” Luffy suddenly exclaimed, raising a hand and waving it around excitedly, garnering everyone’s attention, “We should go to Sanji’s restaurant!”

“What?” Both Sanji and Zoro said at the same time, giving Luffy the same surprised and confused look.

“Do we have to?” Zoro asked, seeming annoyed and disappointed, “I can barely stand being around the swirly brow, I highly doubt I can stand to be around his kind for more than a minute.”

“My kind?!” Sanji snapped, turning to glare at Zoro again, fists clenched.

“I want to eat at Sanji’s restaurant!” Luffy called, both fists pumping to forward his idea, “Let’s go! Come on!”

“It’s not my restaurant, it’s the old geezer’s,” Sanji clarified, taking another puff of his cigarette.

“We should go!” Luffy yelled, seeming very excited about it, trying to talk the others into it.

Nami smiled and crossed her arms, kind of liking Luffy’s idea, “Actually, I think that’d be nice. You spoke very highly of it yesterday, Sanji-kun.”

Sanji seemed reluctant to go through with this, fidgeting almost nervously next to Zoro who still had his arms crossed and was avoiding looking at the blonde; Robin suddenly spoke up, “Oh, Nami-san told me you worked a restaurant in the area, I would love to check it out if it’s okay with you.”

Sanji’s fingers twitched as he looked between the two girls awkwardly, and he didn’t really want to go to the old geezer’s restaurant, but Nami and Robin wanted to go, so… He sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat, “Alright, we’ll go…”

“Yosh!” Luffy celebrated, throwing his arms up in the air in celebration, “Let’s go! I’m so excited!”

“Sweet!” Usopp chuckled when Luffy wrapped an arm around his shoulders, dragging him forwards, leaving the others behind, though Zoro mumbled something grumpily as he passed the cook and the women, Robin following in his step.

Nami noticed Sanji seemed grumpy about something, so she stayed behind a few steps and gave him a concerned look, “Is everything okay, Sanji-kun?”

“Huh?” He grunted, eyes flicking over to meet hers, widening a bit when he realized how close she was now; his face burned as he scrambled to find his words, “Oh, uh, yeah. I’m fine, don’t-don’t worry.”

Nami didn’t seem to buy it, “Do you not want us going to the restaurant you work at?”

He reached a hand up to scratch the back of his head nervously, “No, it’s not that, it’s just…” He saw how curious she looked, and he felt like he should try to explain, “It’s not the restaurant. The food’s great, trust me! It’s just… well, the people… working there…”

Nami shifted her weight onto one foot, eyebrows furrowed curiously, “The people working there?”

“Yeah,” Sanji averted his eyes, still scratching at the back of his head harshly, pulling on his hair a bit, which he tended to do when he was anxious, “They’re a bit… eccentric, you could say,” He chuckled nervously at that, but continued to try to explain, even though Nami seemed to start to understand, “They’re loud and rude, and they never leave me alone, I guess—”

“Are you embarrassed?” Nami asked, a seemingly surprised tone to her voice.

“What? No! That’s not it! It’s just—” He cut himself off when his eyes finally landed back on her face, only to frown when he saw a teasing smile gracing her lips, “What’s with that look?”

“You’re embarrassed because your work friends tease you, aren’t you?” Nami was teasing him now, “That’s cute. They’re kind of like your little family, huh?”

Sanji frowned, shoulders slumping again, “Are you making fun of me?”

“No! No, I’m not!” Nami tried, not meaning for her previous words to come out like that, “I really think it’s sweet,” He didn’t seem to believe her, so she rolled her eyes and tried to cheer him up, “Come on, don’t be so stubborn. You can sit next to me, okay? I’m sure sitting next to the one of the boys would only make the teasing worse, especially with Zoro around.”

Oh, she already understood that he couldn’t stand the mosshead. And they’ve only all known each other for not even a day.

He had to smile at how sweet she was being, “Yeah, alright. But don’t expect me to be excited about this.”

“What,” Nami put a hand on her hip as she sent him a teasing look, “Do you want me to hold your hand, too?”

Sanji felt all the blood rush to his face at her words, a squeak getting caught in his throat and suddenly he couldn’t move a muscle. Nami noticed this very fast, and she smiled happily. _He’s easy to fluster._ She rolled her eyes though, figuring they should probably catch up to the others before they get lost; they don’t even know where they’re going, Sanji had to lead the way, “Come on, let’s catch up with the others before they get lost.”

She looped her arm through his, dragging him forward now, which surprised him and made him stumble. He had a dazed look on his face, which made her laugh, and she called him a dork before she led him to catch up with the others. It took a while for Sanji to regain his bearings.  
0-0-0-0-0  
“Whoa!” Luffy called very loudly when they entered the restaurant, “It’s huge!”

“Not really,” Sanji said, looking around, seeing if he saw any of his ‘annoying’ coworkers, “It’s the size of any other sit-down restaurant in town.”

Luffy took a big inhale, then he beamed, “Smells good! Come on, let’s sit down!”

“Hang on,” Sanji said, grabbing the back of Luffy’s shirt before the boy could run off, “You can’t just run off, some tables might be claimed already. Hey Olly…”

A shorter man standing behind a booth several feet away turned to look at Sanji when he heard his name being called; a smile lit up his features at the sight of the familiar face, “Sanji! I thought you didn’t work till Monday?”

“I don’t,” The cook said, scratching at his jaw as he explained, “But I met some people at school that wanted to eat here, so… Here I am.”

“Oh?” Olly looked at the group standing behind Sanji, “Finally got yourself some friends, huh?”

Sanji’s face burned and he quickly narrowed his eyes the glare at the short man, “Shut up!”

Olly laughed, grabbing several menus as he counted the amount of people with Sanji, “Party of six?”

“Yeah,” Sanji said, shoving his hands into his pockets as Olly gestured for them to follow him.

Luffy chuckled excitedly as he skipped after the host, “I can’t wait! This is gunna be so good! We should’ve invited Sabo!”

“Sabo?” Nami asked, tilting her head curiously as she walked alongside Luffy, “That’s your other brother, right? I’ve heard Ace talk about him before.”

Luffy nodded with a beaming smile, “Mm-hm! He’s pretty great! You’d love him!”

“Well, I sure love Ace, and you’re a pretty nice guy, so I’m sure Sabo would be the same,” Nami said.

“Sabo’s really nice! And he always knows what to say and do when things are hard! He’s amazing!” Luffy exclaimed proudly, using his hands excitedly as he spoke.

“You’ve got brothers?” Usopp asked, stepping in between Luffy and Nami, “They’re not as loudmouthed as you, are they?”

Nami and Usopp both chuckled at that, but they weren’t expecting to Luffy to answer the way he did, “Yep, they are!”

Usopp choked on his laughter and coughed, “You don’t have to be so honest!”

Luffy laughed at Usopp’s misfortune, but his laughter was quickly cut short when Olly spoke, “Your table.”

Luffy very quickly sat down, almost knocking his chair back with how roughly he sat down, but he laughed and didn’t even seem to notice his almost fall, “This is gunna be so good!”

“You’ve never even eaten here before,” Sanji said as he took his seat next to Nami.

“Well, if you work here, it must be good!” Luffy beamed, rocking back and forth excitedly in his seat.

“You’ve never had his cooking,” Zoro said, sliding into a chair now, which conveniently was right next to Sanji’s.

“Do you have to sit there?” Sanji asked, glaring at the mosshead, arms crossed irritably.

Zoro gave him a rather deadpan look, answering his question honestly, “Well, there was a chair here, so…”

“That’s not what I meant, asshole!” Sanji snapped, glaring daggers.

“I know Sanji’s cooking is good! I can just tell!” Luffy interrupted their arguing to rattle on excitedly, “Now let’s eat!”

“We have to order first, Luffy,” Nami reminded him, pushing a menu his way.

Luffy grabbed the menu, opening it up and skimming through it rather quickly before he beamed once more and practically shouted, “Ooh! This looks good!”

He pointed frantically at the description of a meal on the menu, Nami looking over to see what he was so excited about, reading out loud, “Crispy pork belly, roasted corn, fava beans, robuchan yukon potatoes… Hm, that does sound good.”

“It is,” Sanji said, then his face burned at what he’d suddenly said and he cleared his throat to try and clear away how awkward he felt now that all eyes were on him, “I mean, the head chef is a really good cook and he makes that dish perfectly. He makes every dish perfectly.”

“But I bet you make it better!” Luffy chuckled as reached around Zoro to pat Sanji on the shoulder roughly. 

“Ooh, you could get in trouble saying something like that around here!” A new voice suddenly called, making everyone turn their heads besides Sanji who put his in his hand.

“Sanji! You’ve never brought any friends in to eat!” The shorter of the two men approaching the table said, a beaming and seemingly teasing smile on his face, “And here I thought you didn’t have any!”

He and the taller man laughed then as they finally stopped at the table, the others peering up at them curiously. Nami had noticed how uncomfortable Sanji seemed, so she took it into her own hands to try and help out; she put a smile on her face and held out her hand, “Hi, I’m Nami. We all met Sanji-kun at school. It’s nice to meet you both.”

The two men looked down at the girl for a moment, as if trying to process what she had said, then a sly grin broke out across both their faces as they turned back to Sanji, the shorter one speaking, “Oh? And you got a girlfriend, too? It’s about time you got some—”

“Guys, this is Patty and Carne! Patty and Garne, these are my friends!” Sanji cut Carne off quickly, face burning a deep shade of red, not at all liking where that sentence was heading. He narrowed his eyes and leaned back to whisper harshly to both of them, “Don’t embarrass me!”

Both of the men had to hold back laughter, but they didn’t bring up what they were trying to say before again; Patty spoke next, “Anyway, I’m glad he found some good friends,” He then leaned forward to speak quietly to Nami, “He’s always seemed kinda lonely.”

“I heard that, you jackass,” Sanji muttered irritably, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.

Carne laughed and placed a hand on the blonde’s shoulder, looking around the table at them all, “I will warn you though, he’s a bit of a dork, so—”

Sanji suddenly reeled his elbow back and hit Carne in the stomach, making the man cough and keel over. Sanji crossed his arms again as Carne tried to catch his breath, coughing out, “He’s a bit hot tempered, too…”

Suddenly, Luffy started laughing, hands holding his stomach as joyful tears leaked from the corners of his eyes, “I like you guys! You’re hilarious!”

“Hilarious?!” Sanji suddenly sent a sharp glare towards the boy wearing the straw hat, “They’re a couple of assholes, that’s what they are!”

“So, I’m assuming you guys have known each other for a while,” Nami said, smiling politely as Sanji’s face burned in embarrassment beside her.

“Oh yeah! We’ve known Sanji since he was ten years old!” Patty said with a beaming smile, placing his hands on his hips, “He was a hot-tempered little kid! He even bit me once!”

Sanji was hiding his face in his hands now, all the while everyone else listened intently as Carne continued the story, “He washed dishes around here for the longest time! Chef wouldn’t let him cook for a while, used to piss the squirt off! He used to get so mad!”

“Used to?!” Patty cut in, then they both began to laugh again.

“Are you two gunna take our order, or what?” Sanji finally snapped, pulling his head from his hands and glaring up at the two cooks.

“Oh yeah, of course,” Patty said, pulling out a small notepad out of his pocket along with a pen, looking around at everyone, “What would you all like to order?”

A teasing tone still remained in his voice, but things seemed to be settling down as Luffy immediately ordered what he’d seen earlier on the menu, voice loud and excited. Nami ordered the same thing, then everyone else ordered one by one, Sanji going last, then they gave the cooks their menus, Patty speaking again, “We’ll be back with your drinks shortly.”

Both men turned to leave the table, but both decided to ruffle Sanji’s hair roughly as they passed, making him reach up quickly to fix it and glare over his shoulder at the retreating cooks, muttering a, “Jackasses…”

“I like your friends, Sanji!” Luffy said, smiling widely, “They’re funny!”

“They’re not my friends,” Sanji said, crossing his arms and pouting, “They’re more like the annoyances I have to put up with on the daily.”

“I don’t know, I kinda like them,” Zoro said from beside him, a smug smile on his always smug face.

“That’s only because you’re just like them,” Sanji snapped, narrowed eyes avoiding looking at the man sitting next to him.

Nami suddenly giggled on the other side of him, making him turn to look at her curiously as she spoke, “They just seem like older siblings who like to annoy their little brother to me.”

“They’re annoying alright,” Sanji said, arms still crossed as he sat slumped in his seat.

“Have you really been working here that long?” Usopp asked from across the table where he sat between Luffy and Robin, “Those two said they’ve known you since you were ten?”

“Oh yeah…” Sanji sat up straighter, scratching the back of his head as he explained, “I started learning how to cook when I was a little kid, and I heard this was the best restaurant in town, so I pestered the head chef here for a while to hire me. Of course, who’d hire a little kid, right?” He chuckled, trying to get back into a happier mood, a light smile on his face now, “I was stubborn though, so finally they put me on dish duty, which was where I was for a while.”

“And you’re a cook now?” Usopp asked, seeming curious about all of this.

Sanji nodded, “Yeah, technically. I used to cook more often, but we’re short-staffed so I wait tables a lot of the time these days.”

“Still, this is pretty impressive,” Usopp said, looking around the restaurant in awe, “You’re a college student and you already work in such a fancy restaurant.”

“Well, one day I’m hoping to have my own restaurant,” Sanji said, a sort of excited smile lighting up his face at his words, making him sit up a little straighter, “It’ll be ten times better than this old place!”

Nami had to smile at how his eyes lit up when he spoke of his dream, and everyone else seemed to feel happy for him as well, including, and curiously so, Zoro. Nami saw him staring at the blonde cook, no smile on his face, but almost a look of awe in his eyes. It only took him a moment to realize Nami was staring at him, and he immediately sat back and turned his head away, but that didn’t stop Nami from noticing the red flush that burned his cheeks when he was caught. Nami smiled. _Well that’s curious._

It wasn’t long that they waited for their drinks to arrive, and it wasn’t long after that that they got their food. Luffy was obviously very excited for the meal, hooting and hollering when it was placed in front of him, and it actually surprised everyone when he thanked the cooks for the meal before he quickly dug in, “Ooh! This is really good! You guys sure are good cooks!”

“Thank you,” Carne said with a proud smile, “We put care into every dish we cook. We want the customers to always feel satisfied and feel like their meal here is the best meal they’ve ever had.”

“Wow, this is delicious!” Nami exclaimed, not expecting the food here to be this good.

“Thank you, Miss,” Carne said, smiling politely.

“How is this place not a five-star restaurant with food this quality?” Usopp asked after he’d swallowed down the food he was chewing.

“Well, people generally don’t like the staff,” Patty said brutally honest.

“Huh? Why not?” Nami asked, furrowing her eyebrows curiously.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sanji asked, gesturing to the two behind him, “Everyone’s rude as shit.”

“You’ve got room to talk there, little eggplant,” Patty said, smiling when Sanji’s face immediately burned red.

“Don’t call me that!” Sanji turned in his seat to kick at Patty, only for the man to jump back and dodge.

“Little eggplant?” Zoro scoffed, wearing a mocking smile, arms crossed over his broad chest.

Sanji immediately redirected his glare to the larger man, snapping, “Shut your trap, mosshead!”

“Little eggplant,” Zoro repeated, smirking as he finished sarcastically, “How cute.”

He wasn’t sure it was possible for Sanji’s face to get any redder; the blonde stood and clenched his fists by his sides, his chair squeaking across the floor as it was pushed back violently, “Want me to kick you in your smug face?!”

“Kick me? What. Are your hands broken?” Zoro asked, teasing smile never falling from his face; he hadn’t even moved a muscle, not even when Sanji stood up to threaten him.

“He doesn’t use his hands to fight, he’s a cook, he can’t damage them,” Patty said rather seriously, which surprised everyone because of how lighthearted he and Carne had been just moments ago.

Zoro blinked, not expecting such an answer, but his smile returned, and he directed his gaze right back to Sanji, “Must suck for you. I can’t imagine you get a whole lot of power behind your kicks, not that you’d get much behind your punches either.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Sanji leaned closer, anger just radiating off of him, but it didn’t seem to faze Zoro in the least bit.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” He said, leaning back confidently, “You’re as thin as a twig, I could snap you like one, too.”

To everyone’s surprise, or at least to everyone who didn’t know Sanji well, he reeled his leg back and swung it forward, the side of his foot colliding with the leg of Zoro’s chair and completely snapping it in half, making the chair fall back onto the floor, in turn taking Zoro with it. The green-haired man hit the floor roughly, though he quickly lifted his head and glared at the blonde, “What the hell?!”

Sanji reached into his pocket and fumbled around for a moment before he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one up, “Don’t shit talk me and shit like this wouldn’t happen, mosshead.”

Zoro’s smug smile had dropped when he’d hit the floor, instead an angry snarl was on his face now as he jumped up, glaring daggers into Sanji’s eyes as he grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him towards him, threatening him, “You want me to kick your ass, swirly brow?!”

Nami didn’t want to see them fight, especially not in here where they were supposed to be having a good time, so she went to stand up to separate the two, only for someone to beat her to the punch. Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed the back of Sanji’s shirt collar, pulling him clean away from Zoro and making him stumble; a grumbling voice spoke next, “Fighting again, little eggplant?”

Sanji slumped his shoulders and didn’t even bother looking over his shoulder to see who had grabbed him, “Only because he was asking for it.”

“Yeah, that’s what you always say,” The man said, still holding onto Sanji’s collar as he inspected the damage on the floor before him, “If you’re gunna fight I ask that you take it outside, I’m tired of you breaking things in my restaurant.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, you shitty geezer,” Sanji said, only to be delivered a swift smack to the back of his head; it didn’t really hurt, but it sure did annoy him.

He glared over his shoulder at the older man, only for the man to simply say, “Don’t get a smart tongue with me, little eggplant. Have you forgotten who raised you?”

Sanji kept the glare in his eyes, but turned his head away and mumbled a, “No…”

Zoro was still glaring too, only this time at the older man who had finally released Sanji, “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the head chef and owner of this place,” The man said firmly, looking the younger man sharply in the eyes, “Call me Chef Zeff.”

“And you’re the one who raised him?” Zoro asked, seeming offended by that, “Didn’t seem to do a very good job.”

“Zoro!” Usopp tried to intervene, seeming to have been nervous since Zoro and Sanji’s confrontation had started.

“Sorry, he’s a bit temperamental, he gets that from me,” Zeff said, then he narrowed his eyes at Zoro, “I’d take that as a warning, kid.”

“Huh?!” Zoro grunted, taking high offense to that, “I’ll—”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Chef Zeff,” Nami suddenly burst in, cutting off Zoro before he could say anything else stupid, “The food you make here is very delicious.”

“I know,” Zeff said, though a small but proud smile twitched at his lips, “But thank you.”

“Are all of you as grumpy around here as him?” Zoro asked, not caring at all how rude he sounded; it’s not like the staff here went out of their way to be nice anyway.

“Didn’t you hear me when I told you why we weren’t a higher rated restaurant?” Patty asked, a light chuckle escaping his throat.

“I’m surprised you’re not lower rated,” Zoro grumbled, glare flicking between the two waiting on them, the head chef, and the blonde.

“Zoro!” Nami snapped, leaning forward and smacking him on the arm, “Don’t be rude!”

“I shouldn’t be rude?! What about them?! What kinda restaurant is this?! Who treats their customers this way?!” Zoro snapped, glare settling on Zeff, “How does this place even stay in business?!”

“Customers who continue to come back and enjoy the food,” Zeff said, still smiling proudly, “The food here is so good the customers simply ignore the attitudes of the staff here. Some even enjoy our brash personalities. They say it gives this place _‘charm.’”_

 _“’Charm’_ my ass,” Zoro spat, “I’m not coming back here ever again.”

“Good riddance,” Sanji muttered before he took a drag of the cigarette he’d lit up minutes ago.

“What’d you say, shitty cook?!” Zoro took a looming step towards the blonde, who didn’t even flinch.

“I said good riddance!” Sanji snapped back.

“I swear, I’ll—”

“Why don’t you go make your friends dessert while they’re eating their meals, little eggplant,” Zeff urged, grabbing Sanji by the shoulders and nudging him in the direction of the kitchen, “I’m sure they’d love to try your cooking.”

Sanji looked at the older man, seeming surprised at the suggestion, “What? Really?”

Zeff nodded, “Go on. Get out of my sight.”

Sanji figured he wanted him to go so he wouldn’t break any more chairs fighting with the mosshead, so he turned and asked everyone what they wanted before he turned and left the dining area, flashing Zoro one last glare before he disappeared from sight. There seemed to be a collective relieved sigh once Sanji left, and Zeff turned to Zoro and said, “Let me get you a new chair.”

“There’s no need,” Zoro said, sharp eyes staring into Zeff’s, as if trying to threaten him, “I’m leaving.”

“Well that’s too bad,” Zeff said, but he didn’t try to stop Zoro, and even worse in Zoro’s opinion, the old man didn’t even attempt to apologize for what happened today.

Zoro didn’t feel like arguing any further, he just wanted to get the hell out of this restaurant, so he turned on his heel quickly and left, not sparing one glance to anybody in the room. After he was gone, the others fell into silence for a brief moment, at least until Robin spoke up for the first time in what felt like forever, “That was tense.”

She said it with a smile, as if she was entertained by it all, and then Luffy laughed and kicked his legs under the table, “This place is great! I’m gunna come here every week!”

“Well that’s good to hear!” Zeff beamed at Luffy’s enthusiasm, then he noticed the untouched food that Sanji had ordered; he grabbed the edge of the plate and pushed it towards the middle of the table, “Would one of you eat this? I’d hate to see it go to waste.”

Luffy immediately raised his hand, “I’ll eat it!”

Usopp’s eyes widened when he saw Luffy’s already empty plate, “You ate all of that?! Already?!”

“I was hungry!” Luffy chirped, reaching for Sanji’s untouched meal and dragging it towards himself, “This looks yummy!”

He grabbed his fork and immediately started eating again, and Usopp just looked at him as if he was insane, “And you’re going to eat another entrée? That’s a lot of food.”

“But da foois so ood!” Luffy said through a mouthful of food, words barely comprehensible.

“And you’re gunna eat the dessert, too?” Usopp asked, eyebrows furrowed curiously.

“Mm-hm!” Luffy grunted, chowing down on whatever it was that Sanji had ordered.

“Your stomach’s like a bottomless pit,” Usopp said quietly, watching Luffy shovel forkful after forkful of food into his mouth.

“So, are you Sanji-kun’s father?” Nami asked, leaning forward, elbows resting on the tabletop.

“Hm?” Zeff hummed, turning to look at the red-haired girl, “Oh, no. It’s not like that.”

“But… I thought you said—”

“I raised him?” Zeff cleared up, then he nodded, “I say that because he was here more than he was at home. He loved to cook for people and what better place to do that then at a restaurant?”

“But he didn’t cook right away, did he?” Usopp asked, “That’s what those two told us.”

“No, he washed dishes and cleaned up after closing for a while,” Zeff said, “I wasn’t gunna put a ten-year-old kid on cooking duty, I barely knew anything about the brat. He didn’t start cooking until he was thirteen or fourteen.”

“Yeah! Chef Zeff caught Sanji cooking in the kitchen one day after closing, and he was so impressed by the kid’s skills he finally decided to give him a shot!” Patty said through a laugh, “Thank God, too! Sanji’s the best cook here besides Chef Zeff!”

“Even better than you two?” Usopp asked, joking around since he thought the two seemed rather stubborn before.

Patty nodded, though his smile dropped a bit, “As hard as it is to admit it, yes. Of course, I’d never say so to his face!”

“That’s okay, you don’t have to Patty,” Zeff said, smiling confidently, “He already knows he is.”

“Hey!” Patty snapped, smile turning to a snarling frown as he sent a glare towards the head chef.

Zeff simply laughed though, and Carne joined in before the older man looked around the table again, “Go ahead and eat, dessert will be served soon.”

“I’ve already finished! I’m ready for dessert!” Luffy cheered, arms shooting up into the air.

“You ate that already?!” Usopp practically yelled, eyes wide in awe as he looked at the empty plate that was licked clean.

Luffy simply snickered, Robin giggling at his excitability and Nami just shook her head before she grabbed her fork and went to continue eating. Zeff walked away and let them eat in peace, and Luffy fidgeted impatiently in his seat as he waited for dessert to arrive. Everyone else finished their meals in a few minutes, savoring the flavor of the food and chewing it, unlike Luffy who just seemed to swallow things whole. They were all finished and nearly stuffed, they weren’t even sure they could handle a dessert, but they were curious as to what Sanji’s culinary skills were like, so they made room.  
It was only a few minutes after they finished their lunch that Sanji was walking out with plates of dessert in both his hands, several plates balanced on his arms as he stood between Nami and the area where Zoro’s broken chair had been until Carne cleaned it up while the group were eating, “Here you are,” He placed the plates down in front of them all, watching as their eyes lit up at the excellent presentation, “Please enjoy.”

“Yosh!” Luffy beamed, grabbing a fork and preparing to dig in, “Thanks Sanji!”

Nobody had to tell Luffy twice to dig in, because he was already doing so. Robin smiled across the table at Sanji, “It looks delicious, Sanji-san.”

“Thank you, Robin-chan,” Sanji said, bowing politely.

“Wow! This is really good!” Usopp said through a mouthful of custard.

“Sanji-kun!” Nami spoke next, garnering the man’s attention, “This is amazing! I’ve never had anything like this!”

“Oh, thank you, Nami-san,” Sanji said, face flushing a bit pink at her compliment.

Nami looked up at Sanji who was still standing, noticing he didn’t have anything to eat; and he hadn’t even eaten his lunch. She grabbed the fork that should’ve been his and held it out to him, “Here, we can share.”

“Hm?” Sanji hummed, realizing what she was trying to do, so he shook his head, “Oh, no. That’s okay, I made that for you.”

“But Sanji-kun—”

“Really, Nami-san, I’m fine. I—”

“But I want to share it with you,” She said, giving him an almost threatening look.

He swallowed nervously, but still tried to defend himself, “No really, it’s—”

“Sit,” She reached up and grabbed his arm, pulling him down into the empty chair next to her, making him stumble into it; she handed him his fork, “Take it.”

He hesitated, looking at the shiny fork for a moment, then he looked into her eyes, seeing the determination there and knowing she wasn’t going to give in. Was everybody in this group so stubborn? He released a defeated sigh and finally reached for the fork, taking it in his fingers, “Okay… I’ll do it for you, Nami-san.”

“Good,” She smiled then, scooting the plate closer to him and then scooting her chair closer to him, her arm pressing against his, “Now dig in.”

He did as he was told, flushing pink with the contact of her arm pushed against his. He’d only had a couple of bites before he realized it was a lot quieter at this table than it had been before, so he looked around and had to ask, “Where’d the mosshead go?”

“He left,” Luffy chimed in, “I guess he didn’t like the food.”

“No, that’s impossible. This food is great,” Usopp said with a shake of his head, “He seems grumpy anyway. He was kinda scary, too.”

“It’s probably for the best he left,” Sanji said, an irritated look on his face, “I was gunna kick his ass if I saw his face again.”

“Sanji-kun,” Nami spoke again, voice soft as she suddenly grabbed Sanji’s face with one hand and turned him to look at her, “Let’s not get upset again, okay? Let’s just enjoy our meal.”

His throat felt dry and he knew she had to feel how hot his face was under her gentle hand, “O-okay…”

She smiled and pat his face gently before she released him and went back to eating. It took him a minute to calm down, but at least he didn’t say anything else about Zoro. Nami was right, he shouldn’t concern himself with that idiot, he should try to enjoy himself with his new friends. Nami didn’t back away the entire time they ate, and he didn’t complain about it, but it didn’t really help with the blush dusting his cheeks. They all finished their dessert rather quickly, and when they were done Luffy leaned back in his seat and patted his full stomach, releasing a deep sigh, “Ooh! I’m stuffed! That was delicious, Sanji!”

“Thank you,” Sanji said, voice quiet as he awkwardly shuffled in his seat, Nami not having moved away yet, not even after they’d finished their food.

“Oh! I completely forgot!” Luffy suddenly shouted, startling everyone at the table, “I’m throwing a party next weekend! Do you guys want to come?”

It was quiet for a brief moment, both Sanji and Nami seeming hesitant, but Usopp spoke just seconds after Luffy asked the question, “I’m in! A nice ‘welcome to college’ party would be awesome!”

“May I come?” Robin asked, raising a hand politely.

“Yes! Of course!” Luffy said, then he looked to the other two who weren’t answering, “Nami? Sanji?”

“I don’t know, Luffy…” Nami said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, shouldn’t we focus on school? I mean, a party after only our first week?” Sanji said, shrugging unsure.

“When would you rather have it? During finals?” Usopp asked, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“Well no, but—”

“Come onnnn, Sanji!” Luffy pleaded, bottom lip jutting out in a pout as he slumped his shoulders, “It’ll be fun!”

“Well…” Nami adjusted in her seat, finally leaning away from Sanji a little, much to his disappointment, “I guess a party wouldn’t be too bad. It could be fun.”

“Yeah!” Luffy suddenly beamed again, sitting up in his seat again, “What do you say, Sanji?!”

“Yeah! It’s gunna be fun!” Usopp chirped happily, “Seems like you could use a drink, anyway.”

 _Well, that much is true._ Sanji thought.

“You do seem a bit tense,” Robin broke in.

“Well—” He tried to speak, but Nami cut him off by wrapping an arm around his shoulders gently, making him clam up.

“I don’t know, Sanji-kun,” Nami started, warming to Luffy’s idea rather quickly, “Maybe they’ve got a point.”

“You too?” Sanji questioned, seeming disappointed.

“Yeah, come on!” Nami said, smiling now, “It’s the beginning of the semester, maybe having a party and relaxing before we get too far into schoolwork is a good idea. Good music, good drinks, it’ll be fun!”

“But—”

“Come on, Sanji!” Luffy groaned in a pleading tone, “Come to my party!”

“Yeah, it’ll be loads of fun!” Usopp chimed in, an excited look in his eyes.

“I—”

“Come on, Sanji-kun,” Nami said, squeezing his arm to get his attention, “You seem good on your feet, we could dance together.”

Again, Sanji’s face burned red, and Nami’s suggestion sure was tempting. A party couldn’t be too bad. All of these guys would be there, and he liked them, but he’s sure Luffy would invite Zoro too, and he wasn’t too fond of that idea. Of course, there would be plenty of booze, he’s sure if he got drunk enough, he could distract himself and get his mind off of the stupid mosshead. And Nami did say she’d save a dance for him. Hm. Decisions, decisions.

“Well…” He looked around the table, seeing the hopeful looks on all of their faces, and finally he smiled and slumped his shoulders as he gave in, “Alright, I guess I can find time to make it to your party.”

“Yosh!” Luffy yelled, pumping his fists in the air excitedly, “This is gunna be so fun! I can’t wait!”

“Yay!” Nami released Sanji and clapped excitedly, “It’ll be fun, Sanji-kun! I’m glad you’re coming!”

Sanji’s cheeks were tinted pink as he smiled and nodded, “Yeah, a party could be relaxing. I do need a bit of a stress reliever.”

“It’ll be great!” Usopp said through a chuckle, then he lowered his voice and asked sheepishly, “You think you can make something to bring, though?”

Sanji laughed at the question asked so shyly, nodding, “Of course! That’d make the experience even better!”

Usopp smiled at that, and the rest of the group did as well, happy to see the blonde lightening up a little; Luffy beamed, “Alright! It’s settled! Party next Saturday in my building!”

“Sounds like a plan,” Nami said, then she looked at her phone sitting on the tabletop, “Oh, I had a lotta fun today guys, but I gotta get going. Me and my sister had plans today, so…”

“Okay! We’ll see you later, Nami!” Luffy said, his voice as excitable as ever.

“Alright,” She said as she stood, putting a hand on Sanji’s shoulder and squeezing, “Thanks for the dessert Sanji-kun, it was delicious.”

“Thank you, Nami-san,” Sanji said, smiling happily up at her.

“Okay then, I guess I’ll see you guys later,” Nami said, turning to look at them all with a big smile on her face, and they all bid her farewell as she turned and left the table, leaving some money there.

After she left, Usopp stretched his arms above his head and grunted sleepily as Robin spoke, “I should get going, too. I have some things to do before classes start.”

“Yeah, me too,” Usopp said, slumping his shoulders as he glanced at both Sanji and Luffy, “I guess I’ll see you back at the room, Luffy.”

“Mm-hm!” He nodded.

Usopp turned to look at Sanji as both he and Robin stood, “You doing anything today?”

Sanji shook his head, “No, I’m probably just gunna walk around town for a bit. Anything to stay away from the mosshead.”

Usopp nodded in understanding, everyone having received the message loud and clear that Zoro and Sanji did not get along, “Well, alright then. I guess I’ll see you all later then, it was nice meeting you guys.”

“You too,” Sanji said.

“Yes, it was very lovely,” Robin said.

Usopp and Robin both took their turn to leave, setting some money of the table, leaving Luffy and Sanji alone together now, though Sanji began to stand, pushing his chair under the table, “I’m gunna stay here and clean up the table, I did make dessert after all.”

“Okay,” Luffy chirped, deciding he should probably go anyway, “Thanks for the food, Sanji! I was seriously great!”

Sanji smiled bright, “Thank you!”

Luffy quickly jumped up, stretching his arms above his head before he smiled at his new friend and said his goodbye, “Okay then, Sanji! I’ll see you later! Try not to fight with Zoro too much, okay?”

Sanji scoffed, grabbing the empty plates off the table as he spoke, “I don’t know if that’s possible, but I guess I can try.”

“As long as you can do that!” Luffy said, a smile still on his face, fingers interlocked behind his head, “I’ll see ya around, Sanji!”

“Alright, see ya,” Sanji muttered as he grabbed the last of the plates and turned on his heel to head back to the kitchen at the same time Luffy turned and headed for the exit.

Luffy beamed when left the restaurant, snickering to himself as he headed back for campus: _What a fun day!_  
0-0-0-0-0  
It took Luffy a while to figure out how to get back to campus, having gotten turned around a few times, but he finally made his way back, whistling a happy tune as he walked back towards his room, sure Usopp was back there by now. He liked all his new friends; they’re so cool! He never thought he could make friends so quickly, but Ace and Sabo always told him he had a way with people. He was just happy he made friends. Having company was always so much better than being alone! He hopes he makes a lot more friends while he’s here!

He suddenly tripped over something on the ground, making him fall down to it, crying out as he went, “Whoa!”

He caught himself on his hands, then he quickly turned to see what he’d fallen over and saw someone was on their hands and knees on the ground, picking up what looked like some dropped pencils and paper, “Why are you sitting in the middle of the walkway?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” The boy who had been raking things into his backpack cried, an obvious look of distress on his face as he went to stand up and help the fallen boy, “I didn’t mean to trip you! I just dropped some stuff and—”

“Oh, let me help you!” Luffy said, crawling forward and grabbing some loose paper, putting it in a not so neat pile.

“O-oh! You don’t have to do that!” The boy said, waving his hands around and shaking his head nervously.

Luffy looked at the boy and tilted his head, raising one eyebrow curiously, “How old are you?”

The other boy blinked, “Huh?”

“How old are you?” Luffy repeated, “You’re smaller than me, and you look like a little kid.”

“I’m not a little kid!” The other boy defended, then he blushed at his own outburst and averted his eyes awkwardly, “I-I’m sixteen… But I’m almost seventeen!”

“Hm,” Luffy tilted his head and looked into the other boy’s eyes, thinking something over for a moment before he said with a beaming smile, “You must be pretty smart to get into college so early!”

Again, the boy blushed, though he smiled and wrung his hands nervously, “Don’t think saying that will make me happy, you bastard!”

“Hm?” Luffy tilted his head and frowned again, not sure what this kid’s deal was, but he seemed pretty unique; Luffy started giggling, “You’re funny!”

“I—”

“There you are,” A new voice suddenly spoke, boots scuffing across concrete filling Luffy’s ears, “I was wondering where you disappeared to.”

The boy in front of Luffy suddenly narrowed his eyes and glared, “Wondering where I disappeared to?! I was wondering where you went!”

“I’m right here. Why’d you stop?” The new man said, stopping behind Luffy before looking him over, “Make a friend?”

Luffy finally looked over his shoulder, peering up at the man standing behind him, taking in his appearance. He had dark hair and golden colored eyes, which was something Luffy’s never seen before. His eyes were quite nice, actually. Luffy beamed up at him, “Hi! Are you his friend?”

“No,” The yellow-eyed man replied, not at all looking friendly; as if Luffy cared about that.

“What’re your guys’ names?” Luffy asked, looking between the two before he introduced himself, “I’m Monkey D. Luffy!”

The man who was standing didn’t say anything, just looked at Luffy, but the other boy nervously introduced himself, “I-I’m Chopper.”

“Chopper?” Luffy repeated, “That’s a weird name.”

“O-oh…” Chopper mumbled, looking down at the ground as he twiddled his thumbs.

Luffy giggled, “I like you!”

Chopper sort of smiled at that, then he lifted a hand and pointed at the grumpy man behind Luffy, “That’s my roommate, his name is Trafalgar Law… He’s mean…”

He whispered the last part, but Law seemed to have heard him, “Hey!”

Luffy stood quickly, spinning around and holding out his hand in a greeting, “Nice to meet you!”

Law looked down at the offered hand with a face of what looked like disgruntlement, but he wasn’t _that_ rude, so he grabbed ahold of the younger man’s hand and shook it politely, “Yeah, you too.”

Chopper suddenly got up now, holding his backpack with all his items in it in his arms, hugging it to his chest, “Thank you for helping me.”

“Hm?” Luffy released Law’s hand and turned around to look at the younger boy, then he smiled, “Oh, no problem!”

“Come on, Chopper-ya, I’ve got places to be and with you is not one of them,” Law said, gesturing impatiently for the kid to follow him.

Chopper narrowed his eyes at the man, muttering something under his breath before he turned to Luffy, “Thanks again, but I’ve got to go!”

“Okay! I’ll see ya around!” Luffy said, waving as the boy stepped past him and him and Law started walking away.

“Okay! See ya!” Chopper said, waving back.

Luffy beamed as he waved to them both, calling out as they walked away, “Bye Chopper! Bye Traffy!”

The dark-haired man stopped in his tracks for a moment, looking over his shoulder at Luffy, and irritated look in his eyes, “Traffy?”

Luffy just snickered in response, still waving; Chopper wasn’t even sure the boy with the straw hat heard the grumpy man, “Let’s just go! You said you’ve got places to be!”

Law released a disgruntled sigh but decided ignoring the excitable boy was for the best, so he turned and walked alongside the young kid, ignoring the calls of the straw hat behind him. They probably wouldn’t see each other again anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm all caught up to One Piece now, the anime and the manga, so now all I can do is write this fanfic as I wait week to week for each new episode and chapter to be released. These are some hard times. Anyway.
> 
> I hope you liked it! Sorry it was so long, but I like writing longer chapters to my stories. Please leave a review and/or kudos to let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luffy is trying to invite as many people to his party as he meets; Chopper struggles with his first day of classes, but at least he made a friend to soften the blow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, it took me a lot longer to get this written than I thought it would, but oh well, it's here now! I hope you guys like it, I have so much fun writing this story! Please enjoy!

Chapter 3

He jerked awake in bed, the room around him silent, something feeling off immediately. He blinked his tired eyes, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to clear his blurry vision, reaching up and rub at his dark eyes before he blinked again, becoming more aware of the world around him as his consciousness slowly came back to him. It wasn’t only a moment after his vision cleared that he realized the room wasn’t completely silent, but he could hear muffled music playing somewhere nearby. He’d heard the same heavy yet muffled guitar over the weekend, the sound came from his roommates—Wait!

His eyes widened and he turned in bed, looking to his bedside table to look at his alarm clock, gasping when he realized it hadn’t gone off when it was supposed to. And he had a class this morning! His first class, nonetheless! He sat up in bed and threw the blankets off of him, turning his attention to his roommate across the room laying in his own bed, arms behind his head and eyes closed as he kicked his foot in rhythm with the music he was listening to through his earbuds.

The younger boy hopped out of bed and stood in the middle of the room, calling out loudly, “Law!”

His voice didn’t reach him, which made the boy even more anxious. He stepped forward and, without thinking, grabbed the cords of his roommate’s earbuds and yanked them out of his ears, which in turn put a scowl on his face, “What the hell?”

“Why didn’t you wake me when my alarm didn’t go off?!” Chopper asked in a panic, “I’m gunna be late now!”

“Huh?” Law’s eyes flicked over to the silent alarm clock then back to the high-school aged boy, “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. You didn’t set your alarm right last night.”

“What?!” Chopper almost screamed, eyes widening even further, if that was even possible, “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I just said I forgot,” Law said nonchalantly.

Chopper couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at the taller man, his hot temper peaking through, “No, you didn’t! You just wanted to be mean!”

“Huh?” Law grunted, giving the kid a mean look, which immediately made him shut up.

“Nothing! I’m sorry!” Chopper quickly blurted out, turning away from Law and towards his dresser to grab some clothes; he didn’t have time for a shower this morning, it would take too long, so he’d try to look as presentable as possible before he left.

He quickly got dressed, refusing to look at Law the entire time he was getting ready, but that was fine because the other man had put his earbuds back in and had started ignoring the kid again anyway. The boy grabbed his backpack and his hat as he rushed to the door, slipping his shoes on before he shot a look over his shoulder at the grumpy man, though Law didn’t notice because he wasn’t paying attention, so Chopper turned back towards the door and opened it before he stepped out, trying to ignore his roommate’s rudeness and attitude and get on with his day, which wasn’t hard for now because his mind was suddenly filled with rushing to his first class so he wasn’t late.

He closed the door behind him when he entered the hall, silencing the muffled rock music in the process.  
0-0-0-0-0  
“Are you always so disorganized?” Nami asked as she tried to get Luffy to hurry it along.

“Huh?” Luffy hummed, tilting his head as he chewed on a piece of toast that he was carrying in his mouth, making his words muffled, “I dn’t ink o.”

Nami rolled her eyes as he followed along beside her, then she had to ask, “I heard you couldn’t cook...”

“Oh!” Luffy pulled the toast out of his mouth and beamed after swallowing down his already chewed breakfast, “Usopp made it for me! He said it’d help me focus!”

Nami smiled, understanding now. That makes more sense, “He’s a nice guy, huh?”

Luffy nodded, “Yeah! He’s real funny too! Ooh! Have you seen his drawings?”

Nami shook her head, “No, but I’d like to.”

Luffy giggled, “They’re really good! He drew a picture of a dog!”

“I’m sure he draws a lot more than that,” Nami said, though she smiled at Luffy’s childlike innocence.

“And he paints too!” Luffy said, then he made a face as if he were in deep thought, “I’ve never seen one of his paintings, though. I hope I see one soon though, I bet they’re pretty good too!”

“I’m sure they are,” Nami said with a gleeful smile, “He seems pretty passionate about his dream.”

“Well, aren’t we all?” Luffy asked, seeming confused. Why wouldn’t you be passionate about your dreams?

“Well yeah, but some people’s dreams aren’t their own,” Nami said with an almost sad shrug.

Luffy tilted his head, making a face of what seemed to be annoyance before he crossed his arms and shook his head, “That’s stupid!”

“Well Luffy, some people’s parents or other peers pressure them into following their dreams instead of letting the person do what they want to do,” Nami said, “Trust me, I knew a lot of kids growing up in my little town that had to follow their parents wishes instead of following their own dream.”

“Well that sucks!” Luffy said, seeming disgruntled by Nami’s explanation, “Glad I didn’t have any parents that tried to get me to do something I didn’t want to do! That would’ve sucked!”

Nami was for some reason surprised by Luffy’s words, blinking before she asked him, “You don’t have any parents?”

Luffy shook his head, surprising Nami when he just outright told her, “Nope! I’ve never known them! My Dad’s across the world doing something, but I don’t know much about him and I don’t care either! I’ve got Ace and Sabo, and Grandpa and Dadan! They’re all I need!”

Luffy beamed then, giggling gleefully, and how positive he was was a shock to Nami. She’d never met someone so positive about life, someone so excitable and happy, someone who tried to live life to the fullest, someone like _her._ Luffy locked his fingers behind his head after he finished his toast, walking alongside his guide, “You don’t have parents either, do you?”

“Huh?” Nami’s eyes widened, surprised by the conclusion he’d come to, and so quickly too, “W-well, not anymore, no… How’d you know?”

Luffy shrugged, “Just a hunch,” Nami frowned, looking down at her feet as her pace slowed sadly; Luffy spoke again, voice cheerful again, “Are we almost there?”

Nami blinked in surprise, looking back to him and seeing the curious look on his face as he peered around, trying to figure out where they were. She couldn’t help but ask him, “Wait. You… You don’t want to know why?”

Luffy looked to her, meeting her eyes and blinking himself in confusion, “Know why, what?”

“You know… Why I don’t have parents around,” Nami said, surprised even further when Luffy shook his head.

“No,” He said bluntly, “I don’t care what happened, I just know they’re not around. That’s all I need to know,” Luffy said, then went right back to nagging, “Are we almost there? I feel like we’ve been walking forever!”

He really didn’t care? That’s odd. Usually when you told somebody something like that a person would be a little more than curious, but Luffy? Nope. Didn’t seem even the slightest bit interested in her past. _He’s weird._ Nami nodded and tried to brush off her sadness, pushing her bad memories away and instead focusing on the day ahead, as well as answering Luffy’s question, “Yeah, it’s just up ahead now!”

Luffy turned to look at the girl again, seeing a smile back on her face, so he smiled too, “Great!”

And she was right, the building their first class was in was just up ahead. They entered it just a minute after she said it, and it didn’t take long for them to enter the classroom. The classroom was a bit loud, students chattering as they waited for their professor to arrive, which should be within the next five minutes or so. Luffy’s eyes widened as he looked around, a beaming smile tugging on his lips, “Whoa! This place is huge!”

Nami giggled at his enthusiasm, “Not really. This is the size of most classrooms.”

“Really?!” Luffy asked, looking at her briefly with eyes as wide as saucers and sparkling with amazement.

“Mm-hm,” Nami hummed in return, crossing her arms and looking around the room, looking down towards the blackboard and desk briefly before she turned her attention towards the student seating, looking for an empty spot to sit, “Come on, let’s sit down before the professor gets here.”

She grabbed Luffy’s wrist and dragged him down a row of seating, saying excuse me to some of the students they passed, taking a seat towards the middle of the room and somewhere where Luffy and her could sit together, as she’d promised to help Luffy out if he needed any help with anything. As they both sat down they took their bags off of their shoulders and set them down at their feet, Luffy immediately started digging into his to grab the book that he had rented for this class, and Nami had begun to do the same thing when she suddenly felt a rough kick into the side of her foot that was followed by the scuffing of shoes and a panicked gasp. She quickly looked up and reached an arm out in reaction, grabbing the wrist of the person that had tripped over her foot, steadying them before she asked in concern, “Are you okay?”

The girl she had her hand wrapped around steadied her feet before she released a relieved sigh and turned to Nami, smiling in appreciation, “I’m okay! Thanks for catching me! I can be a little clumsy sometimes!”

Nami wanted to say it was no problem and let the girl go about her business, but she found that she couldn’t. When she caught her eyes, she felt her heart skip a beat and suddenly she felt very nervous. She’s not felt like this before; she wasn’t sure what this was. Why was her heart beating so fast? Why did her face suddenly burn? _Strange._ The girl standing before her furrowed her eyebrows and blinked curiously, seeming concerned, “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Nami finally got her voice to work, face burning redder as she quickly nodded, “O-oh! Yeah, I’m fine! Sorry, I guess I’m just a little nervous. I’m new to the whole college thing.”

“Oh, well that’s understandable,” The blue-haired girl said as Nami let her go, letting the girl go to sit in the seat next to her as she continued to talk, “I’m new to all of this too. I’m pretty excited though! It’s like a whole new adventure waiting to be explored!”

Nami was about to say something in return to that, but the sound of Luffy’s laughter prohibited her from doing so, “I like you!”

The other girl beamed happily, looking past Nami to meet Luffy’s eyes, “Thanks?”

She giggled along with Luffy, and Nami looked between them for a moment before Luffy spoke again, “I’m Monkey D. Luffy and I’m gunna travel the world! What’s your name?”

The blue-haired girl smiled and held out her hand to shake Luffy’s, “Vivi. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Luffy gladly took her hand in his, shaking it roughly, “Nice to meet you, too! This is my friend Nami! She wants to make maps!”

“Really?” Vivi asked, turning to look at Nami, a look of awe in her grey eyes, “That’s amazing! I’ve never known anybody with a dream like that!”

“It’s not that—”

“Nami’s really amazing!” Luffy cut her off, talking animatedly, arms moving around as he went on, “She’s gunna go with me to travel the world one day! We’re gunna go everywhere and see everything!”

“Let me guess,” Vivi said, smiling softly, “Geography majors.”

“Yeah!” Luffy chirped, giggling happily.

“What about you?” Nami asked, resting her elbow on the desk and leaning her head in her palm, “What are you here studying?”

“Political Science,” Vivi said, shrugging as she explained, “My family has always been heavily involved in politics, so I guess I just wanted to follow in their footsteps.”

“That’s cool!” Nami chirped, smiling at the blue-haired girl kindly, “I’m sure you’ll do great!”

“Thank you! I’m sure you will too in what you’re doing!” Vivi said with a happy smile.

“You’re cool!” Luffy cut in again, “Do you wanna come to my party this weekend?”

Vivi blinked in surprise, not expecting an invitation like that. Nami turned to glare at the boy with the straw hat, whispering harshly, “Luffy, we just met her! Do you really think—”

“Sure!” Vivi said with a happy and somewhat excited smile.

Nami was taken aback by her enthusiasm, turning back to face her, “Really?”

The girl nodded, “Mm-hm! I wasn’t allowed to go to any parties when I was a kid, my father was always very protective, so I’d like to go to one now! It’ll be fun!”

“Yosh!” Luffy beamed, throwing his arms up in the air, “It’s gunna be so much fun! I can’t wait!”

Vivi opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off by the strict tone of the professor who had just entered the room when Luffy was yelling excitedly, “Alright, quiet down. Yelling is unnecessary to show your excitement. You can talk about your party at a normal volume.”

All three of them stifled laughter at the professor’s nonchalant tone but remained silent as they got settled in their seats, preparing to listen to their first lesson of their college career. To Nami’s surprise, Luffy only interrupted the professor three times.  
0-0-0-0-0  
“Man, that was so exhausting!” Luffy complained as he, Nami, and Vivi left the building their first class was in, “I’m glad that’s over!”

“You do realize we have to go back, right?” Nami gave him a bewildered look.

“What?!” Luffy practically shrieked as his eyes went as wide as saucers.

“It’s a class, Luffy. There’s more than one lesson,” Nami explained.

“Oh no…” Luffy slumped his shoulders and pouted, “But it’s so boring…”

“Schoolwork is like that sometimes,” Nami said, patting him on the back reassuringly, “Don’t worry, once you get through these core classes and get onto more degree specific things, you’ll do fine.”

Vivi giggled where she walked partly behind them, which made Nami turn to look over her shoulder at the girl before she slowed her steps a bit to walk beside her, letting Luffy lead, “You seemed to do pretty well in there, even answered the professor’s question right. You were totally focused the whole time. You’re pretty smart, huh?”

The blue-haired girl blushed and shook her head, waving her hands about nervously, “Oh no, not really! I just had tutors as a kid that really made sure I was getting a good education, I just never had time to slack off!”

Nami giggled, “That’s opposite of me. I was always skipping class, I just knew what interested me and what didn’t.”

“Well, there’s no harm in that,” Vivi said, face returning to it’s normal shade, “You made it into college, so you’re pretty smart yourself.”

Now it was Nami’s turn to blush, and she stammered over her words, though never found them, “I-I, uh…”

“Hey! I know you!” Luffy suddenly shouted from ahead of the girls, pointing a finger in front of him before he took off running towards whoever he saw.

Nami and Vivi both quirked an eyebrow in curiosity, peering around Luffy to see what he was running towards, only to see a younger looking boy on his knees on the ground, gathering some papers into a pile; presumedly he had dropped them. When noticing that, both Nami and Vivi started after Luffy, trying to get to the boy in need as well.

“Boy, you sure do fall down a lot,” Luffy said, stopping when he reached the boy, placing his hands on his hips as he peered down at him.

The boy on the ground peered up at Luffy, recognizing him from just a couple of days before, “I’m just a little clumsy, that’s all!”

Luffy laughed as the girls caught up to him, stopping at his sides; Nami spoke first, “Are you okay? Here, let me help you.”

Nami knelt down to help the boy gather papers, Vivi going to do the same, “I’ll help too.”

Luffy looked around for a moment, as if looking for someone, then he asked the boy, “Where’d your friend go? Did you already figure out your way around?”

The boy with the pink hat shrugged as he tried putting his loose items into a pile as neatly as he could, “After a few trips around campus you figure it out pretty quick.”

“Hm…” Luffy hummed, furrowing his eyebrows, hands still placed on his hips, “Well, I haven’t figured it out yet.”

“That’s because you’re an airhead,” Nami muttered to him, but Luffy didn’t seem to catch her words, instead he kept rambling to the boy.

“Your name was Choppy or something, right?” Luffy asked, trying his best to remember the name the boy had given him just days before.

“It’s Chopper!” The boy replied harshly, shooting a glare at Luffy.

“Right!” Luffy said, beaming happily, “And Traffy was your roommate!”

“Luffy, you could help out instead of just standing there blabbering,” Nami suddenly snapped, sending the boy a scolding glare over her shoulder.

“Oh, right!” It didn’t take but a moment for Luffy to drop to his knees and start gathering Chopper’s things, and it took him just a moment later to start blabbering again, “You sure do have a lot of stuff.”

“I like to keep notes,” The boy mumbled, not looking at Luffy as he pushed papers into the folder they’d fallen out of.

“Don’t look in Luffy’s backpack. It’ll give you a heart attack,” Nami said, only for Luffy to giggle in response.

“As long as it all fits!” Luffy said, reaching over his shoulder to pat his bag stuffed to the brim with stuff, half of which he probably didn’t even need in there.

“It’s half full of snacks,” Nami reminded him.

“Oh yeah!” Luffy giggled as he grabbed the bag off of his shoulder and unzipped it, everyone watching as he stuffed his hand down into it and searched for something, “I brought a snack for you, Nami!”

Nami actually seemed surprised by this, blinking as Luffy pulled out a small chocolate bar, “Hm?”

“It’s orange chocolate! You said you liked oranges, right?” Luffy asked her, holding the candy bar out to her.

“Tangerines actually,” Nami said, though she couldn’t help but smile that he thought of her, so she took the candy from his hand, “But thank you. That was very sweet of you.”

Luffy giggled and beamed, then he looked to Vivi, “Do you want something? I have loads of snacks in here if you—”

“Oh no, but thank you,” Vivi said, smiling politely as she turned down his offer with the gentle wave of her hand.

“Okay,” He chirped before pulling something else out of his bag and holding it out towards Chopper, “Here! Take it!”

Chopper looked at the bag of gummy worms Luffy was holding out to him, and he had to wonder just how many snacks were actually in that bag, “W-what… Why are you giving me this?”

“Because you look like you could use a snack,” Luffy replied quickly.

“But… don’t you want them?” Chopper asked, seeming confused.

Luffy shrugged, “Sure! But I can get more! You look sort of sad, so you take em!”

Chopper blinked in surprise. He had had a bad day so far, and this unexpected act of kindness was filling his chest with warmth. He couldn’t understand really how Luffy was being so kind to him, they had only just met days before and had never had a full conversation, but he seemed like a nice guy, so Chopper decided to just accept what he was doing for him. He reached out and grabbed the unopened bag of gummy worms, smiling shyly in appreciation, “Thanks.”

“Mm-hm!” Luffy hummed, then he zipped his bag back up and put it back over his shoulders before he finished helping the others organize Chopper’s things. It only took another minute before he had his items somewhat organized, but he could just figure out the rest when he got back to his room.

“Thank you, guys,” Chopper said, shyly hugging his folders to his chest as he avoided eye contact, “I can be so clumsy sometimes…”

“That’s okay!” Nami chirped as she patted the boy’s shoulder gently, “It’s the first day of classes, I’m sure the stress is weighing on you heavy.”

Chopper nodded, feeling a little lighter that she understood, “Yeah…”

“Don’t worry! We’re all new here! If you ever need any help, just ask one of us!” Nami said, then she held out her hand for the boy to shake, “I’m Nami, nice to meet you!”

Chopper looked down at her hand, then he reached out in took it in his, smiling a shy but kind smile, a light pink dusting his cheeks, “Chopper. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“I’m Vivi,” the blue-haired girl cut in, waving from where she stood behind Nami, “I can help out too if you ever need it.”

“Thank you,” Chopper said, feeling a bit more calm around them. They had a calming aura, a soothing one. They were nice.

“I’m gunna head over and get some lunch, you guys wanna come along?” Nami asked, looking between Vivi and Chopper hopefully.

“Sure! I’d love to!” Vivi chimed happily.

“Sorry, but I’ve gotta swing back over to my room. I forgot something there,” Chopper politely declined, “I have some food there anyway, but thank you for inviting me. Maybe some other time?”

Nami nodded, “Sounds good to me!” She then looked to Vivi, then Luffy before asking, “You coming, Luffy?”

Luffy was looking down at Chopper curiously, arms crossed over his chest as he asked, “Do you have enough food for two at your place?”

“Um… Yeah?” Chopper replied, though in a confused tone.

Luffy then beamed, “Great! I’ll come with you! I have to ask you something anyway!”

What could he have to possibly ask him? They barely knew one another. _Hm._ Maybe that was why he wanted to ask a question, “Okay…?”

“Yosh! Let’s go!” Luffy wrapped his arms around Chopper’s shoulders, walking along with him towards the building the boy stayed in.

“I’m just warning you, Law is kinda grumpy, like… all the time,” Chopper told the hyperactive boy.

“Oh yeah! I can ask Traffy too!” Luffy’s smile became wider, which Chopper didn’t think was even possible, but Luffy seemed to be full of surprises.

Nami sighed and shook her head as she watched Luffy and Chopper walk away, Luffy’s loud voice somehow fading in the distance; Vivi giggled behind her, “He’s very lively.”

Nami looked over her shoulder at the other girl, then she smiled a bit cheerfully, “He is, though he does get on my nerves sometimes… And I’ve only known him for a few days.”

“He’s easy to make friends with,” Vivi pointed out, and Nami had to agree.

“He sort of forces the friendship,” Nami said, though she was still smiling as she watched Luffy’s back, “But I guess I don’t mind.”

Vivi smiled seeing Nami smile, thinking it looked rather nice on her. She giggled before she reached out an grabbed the girl’s hand, “Come on, let’s get going. The dining hall is serving beef stir fry today, I heard it’s delicious!”

Nami’s face flushed when she felt Vivi’s warm palm touch hers, and she almost tripped and fell because of her flusterment when Vivi started dragging her alone, but she quickly regained her bearings, cleared her throat, and agreed with a, “Right!”  
0-0-0-0-0  
“Whoa, your room is really clean!” Luffy examined when they entered, surprised any room could be this clean, especially when shared with another person; both him and Usopp were rather messy, or cluttered at the very least.

“I guess we both like things to be organized,” Chopper said, hurrying over to set his cluttered folder on his desk, remembering to fix it later, “I’m going to make a sandwich, I’m assuming you want one.”

Luffy nodded, “Uh-huh!” As Chopper stepped over to the extremely small kitchen, which consisted of a microwave and a mini fridge, Luffy looked around the room and asked, “Where’s Traffy?”

“His class should’ve ended by now,” Chopper said, looking at the clock on the wall, then he shrugged, “Maybe he’s eating lunch in the dining hall?”

“Hm,” Luffy hummed, slumping his shoulders, a bit disappointed; he wanted to ask him something.

“What do you want on your sandwich?” Chopper asked, shuffling through the mini fridge in search of ingredients.

“Meat!” Luffy chirped with an excited smile.

“We have turkey and roast beef, which one—”

“Both please!” Luffy said.

“Okay,” Chopper said, getting some of the stuff out before he began preparing both of their lunches. Luffy stepped over to Chopper’s desk, grabbing the chair and taking a seat as he watched Chopper work, rocking back and forth impatiently, mouth watering just smelling and looking at the food. Chopper every now and again asked Luffy if he wanted an ingredient on his sandwich, and Luffy said yes to every one of them. After a moment of silence Chopper’s curiosity got the best of him and he had to ask, “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

“Hm?” Luffy hummed, catching Chopper’s eyes, then he smiled when he remembered, “Oh yeah! The question!”

Chopper watched the older boy as he finished up making their lunch, Luffy leaned over the back of the chair, folding his arms and peered over at the shorter boy, a hopeful smile on his face as he finally asked, “I’m having a party this weekend! Wanna come?”

Chopper froze, eyes going wide in surprise. _A party?_ He wasn’t expected that to be Luffy’s question. He wasn’t sure what the question was going to be, really though, “A party? Really?” Luffy nodded, and Chopper swallowed nervously, “B-but… Why do you want me to come? Aren’t parties for like… cool people?”

Luffy laughed loudly at that, and the noise startled the younger boy. He looked at the boy with the straw hat in shock, not understanding why he was laughing, and when he was about to ask him what was so funny, Luffy spoke, “You’re cool!”

Chopper’s face flushed at the compliment, not expecting that either, then he smiled and tried to brush away the fact that it made him happy, “That doesn’t make me happy, you bastard!”

Luffy laughed again, “You’re funny when you do that!”

Chopper frowned then, having to ask just for clarification, “Are you sure you really want me there?”

Luffy nodded, wasting no time in telling him, “Of course, I do! You’re my friend, right?”

“We barely know each other,” Chopper reminded him.

“We’re having lunch together,” Luffy said, eyes flickering over to the near finished sandwiches in front of Chopper, “That’s something friends do.”

Chopper felt his face heat up again, but this time he smiled genuinely and nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

He’s never had friends before. Not even in high school. He was always considered ‘weird,’ so this was nice. He put the other slice of bread on Luffy’s sandwich, finishing it before handing it to Luffy, who was overly excited, as if he hadn’t eaten in a week, “Ooh! Thank you!”

He wasted no time in digging in, and Chopper ate where he stood at the edge of his desk, watching Luffy closely. He swallowed down his first bite before he asked, “So… This party… You want to invite Law too?”

“Mm-hm!” Luffy grunted through a mouthful of food, “Fink il anna um?”

Translating that as ‘think he’ll want to come?’ Chopper simply shrugged, “I don’t know… He doesn’t seem like a partying type. He’s always mean to me, and if he’s not busy throwing out insults he’s ignoring me…”

“I bet he’s cool,” Luffy said, finally having chewed his food up and swallowed.

“He’s an ass,” Chopper said bluntly.

“He probably just needs a friend!” Luffy said, voice confident, taking another bite of his sandwich.

“Maybe…” Chopper mumbled, Luffy not hearing him, too busy enjoying his meal.

It was quiet the rest of their lunch together, Luffy too immersed in his food and Chopper stuck in his thoughts. Law? Needs a friend? Maybe. The man didn’t really talk to anybody, he never spoke of anybody, family or friends. But did that really give him an excuse to be so mean all the time? No, it didn’t, but he still was. Chopper had tried to get along, tried making decent and nice conversation, but every time he was either ignored by Law putting his earbuds in or the man just plain telling him to shut up. He really didn’t even want to try and be friends, he felt it was an impossible goal anyway.

“Ah! That was good!” Luffy said, patting his stomach as he leaned back, “Thank you for lunch!”

“You’re finished already?” Chopper asked, looking surprised, “I just made these a minute ago!”

“I was hungry!” Luffy giggled, and Chopper was still surprised at how quickly he devoured the sandwich; he had put a lot of stuff on that, too!

The door to the room squeaked, opening slowly, clacking footsteps stepping into the room, both sets of eyes turning to gander at who had walked in. The yellow eyes in the doorway met Luffy’s dark ones, blinking once before they flickered to Chopper’s before he closed the door behind him, “Bring a friend home for lunch?”

Chopper swallowed nervously, anxiety always assaulting his senses when he was around his rather grumpy roommate, “Yeah,” Was all he said.

Law dropped his bag on his bed before he stepped over to where Chopper and Luffy were, going for the fridge to get a drink. Luffy beamed as the man walked around him and Chopper, not speaking until he was bent over trying to fish out a can of soda, “Traffy! There you are!”

The man paused at the nickname, not sure how to react to that, so he turned to look at the energetic boy sitting at Chopper’s desk, “Straw Hat-ya… I remember you.”

That seemed to make Luffy happy, “Great! I needed to ask you something!”

Law furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity, as well as confusion, “Something to ask me? What?”

Luffy sat up a bit, as if preparing to ask an earth-shattering question, then he bluntly said, “Come to my party Saturday!”

Law nearly choked, not at all expecting that, then he glared at Luffy with confusion written across his features, “What?”

“Come to my party!” Luffy repeated, throwing his arms up excitedly, “It’ll be fun! Zoro said he would handle the drinks, and Sanji’s gunna make the food! It’s gunna be so fun!”

“Hm,” Law grunted, then he stood and closed the fridge, walking back around the other two and back towards his bed, “I’ll pass.”

Luffy frowned and quickly spun around, narrowing his eyes slightly at the slightly older man, “No.”

Law froze before he could sit down, peering over his shoulder to see the pout on Luffy’s face, “No?”

“No!” Luffy shook his head, crossing his arms, “You’re coming to my party because I want you there!”

_This kid’s annoying._ Law narrowed his eyes, turning back around to face Luffy properly, “I’m _not_ going to your party because _I_ don’t want to be there.”

“I refuse!” Luffy said.

Law grit his teeth, “You can’t refuse my refusal!”

“Who says?” Luffy retorted, glaring as Law marched over to him and glared right back.

“I do!” He snapped, jutting a thumb into his own chest.

Luffy crinkled his nose as he looked the man’s face over, bluntly saying, “You’re all sweaty! Why are you wearing a jacket?”

Law stepped back at his question, though not too far, and replied with, “Don’t change the subject. I’m not coming to your party, and that’s final.”

Luffy opened his mouth and drew in a big breath, ready to go off again, but Chopper suddenly lurched forward and put a hand over his mouth, trying to mediate the conversation, “Let’s talk about this later, okay? Traffy’s probably just stressed, let’s leave him alone for right now.”

Law’s eye twitched as he directed his glare at Chopper now, “What did you just call me?”

Chopper’s face paled as he squeaked in fear, “Nothing! Come on, Luffy! I want to meet this Zoro and Sanji you mentioned!”

Luffy’s pout immediately went away and was quickly replaced by a bright smile, “Okay! You’re gunna love them! They’re funny! They…”

Luffy went on to ramble about his two friends, but Chopper didn’t really listen, he was too focused on pushing Luffy out of the room. In all reality, going to meet Luffy’s friends was just an excuse to get away from his intimidating roommate, and thank God it was an excuse that succeeded in execution.  
0-0-0-0-0  
It took him forever to find his dorm again, but he was finally back. He didn’t have anyone to guide him back – not that he needs anybody to do so – so he had a hard time remembering exactly where to go. He was new here, but he’ll eventually figure it out. He spent the whole day out, after his first class he went and ate, then he had two more classes in the afternoon, then he went to the gym, and now here he is. It took him a while to find his way here though, so it was now dark out, but oh well, he was tired and ready for bed anyway. He was confused for a moment though when he walked in and didn’t see the cook, but it only took him a second to remember that the swirly brow worked nights at that restaurant downtown. He tossed all of his stuff down, crashing into bed, completely ready for some rest.

He felt like he’d been asleep for thirty seconds when he heard the door open and his eyes were disturbed by the light that poured in from the hall. He groaned irritably when the door clicked shut and a lamp was turned on just away from the doorway. He rolled over and glared at the cook tossing his keys onto his desk, scratching the back of his head before he slunk over to the fridge to look for something to drink.

He wasn’t really being noisy in hindsight, but he was just so annoying to Zoro he couldn’t help but sitting up and glaring sharply at the back of the cook's head, “Would you quiet down, I’m trying to sleep over here. And what’s with all the lights?”

Sanji turned his head at the sound of Zoro’s grating annoyed voice, then he shot him a deadpan look, “I’m not even being that loud, and it’s one light,” He held up one finger, “It’s pitch black in here at night, so in order to see I flipped on the light. I’ll turn it off in a second.”

Zoro didn’t drop his glare, instead he stood and stepped over to where Sanji was in the tiny kitchen space, watching as the man stood, holding a bottle of water in his hand. The blonde blinked in surprise at Zoro’s sudden appearance in front of him, and he was slightly annoyed by the look on his face, “What?”

Zoro looked at him in silence for a moment, which made Sanji feel uncomfortable and squirm, but before he could say anything about it, Zoro finally spoke, “It’s past midnight. Do you always get off so late?”

Sanji was surprised by the question, probably because it was a fairly normal question and not one aimed to mock him, “I-I guess. It just depends on—”

“Great. So, you’re gunna crash in and wake me up every night like this?” Zoro asked irritably.

_Oh, so that was why he asked._

Sanji didn’t even have the energy to glare at the mosshead, so instead he just brushed aside his stupid questions, “I’ll try to be more quiet next time.”

Zoro went silent at the lack of snarky insult he usually got back, and to be honest, he was a bit disappointed. And that just annoyed him more. He crossed his arms and huffed, glare still strong in his eyes, “You look like shit, by the way.”

“Tends to happen when you work your ass off,” Sanji said, not even batting an eye at Zoro, instead he just twisted the top off of his water and took a swig before he continued, “Working a busy schedule tends to exhaust a person.”

Zoro didn’t really know what to say to that. He worked on the weekends at a local gym, and he made decent money doing what he did, at least enough to pay for his books. Of course, the rest goes right into his student loans that he’d be paying off for the rest of his life. But he’d worry about that later, right now Sanji was talking again, “Oh yeah, I found this note on the door. Luffy wrote it but I can’t really make out what it says. I think he brought over a friend or something, but we weren’t here, so… Thought you would’ve seen it.”

The blonde set the pink sticky note down onto the countertop, Zoro trying to read through it, but he couldn’t read Luffy’s chicken scratch either, so he just took Sanji’s word for what was said, “Alright, whatever. I’m going back to bed now, try not to wake me up again, alright swirly brow?”

Sanji’s eye twitched, which was probably about as much of a reaction as Zoro was gunna get out of him tonight, so he took it. Sanji released a tired sigh and nodded, “Yeah, alright. Whatever, mosshead.”

Zoro’s glare narrowed, but he was also just a bit too tired to continue their bickering, so instead he turned on his heel back to his bed, calling over his shoulder, “And hit the light when you’re done, would ya?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sanji said, waving him off as he drank some more water.

Zoro crawled back into bed, laying on top of the blankets because sleeping with them on made him too hot to actually sleep. He rolled onto his side, facing away from Sanji, and he closed his eyes, ignoring the sound of the plastic bottle in the cook’s hand crinkling whenever he took a swig. And he wasn’t being loud? 

Zoro practically curled into a ball and slowly drifted off to sleep, trying his best to ignore the smell of food and cigarette smoke that seemed to cling to him even after he’d left the cook’s side.

_How annoying._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breaking News: Zoro still gets lost on his way back to his dorm.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys liked it, and I would really appreciate a review to tell me what you think! Have a good night, or day depending on where you are! Until next time!


End file.
